HOW TO TEACH 



/ • 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL 





Class : 24. 

Book._ '. I 

Copyright }J 



COEiKICKT DEPOSIT. 



TEACHER-TRAINING HANDBOOK 



HOW TO TEACH IN 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL 



By 
THEODORE E. SGHMAUK 

Professor of Pedagogy in the Theological Seminary at Philadelphia 
and Editor of Graded Lutheran Sunday School Series 



PHILADELPHIA 
THE UNITED LUTHERAN PUBLICATION HOUSE 



3V\ 5*^1" 

,535" 



COPYRIGHT, I92O, BY 

THE BOARD OF PUBLICATION OF 

THE UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA 







FEB 26 1920 
CI.A565027 



r\ 



This book is issued at the close of twenty-five years' 
experience in Sunday-School reconstruction in the 
Church, and is dedicated to our pastors and teachers 
and writers, our fellow-laborers in effort and in 
patience. It is written from an evangelical standpoint. 



For a short and effective Teacher-Training Course, use Chap- 
ters 20-22. For a larger Course, add Chapters 11-18. If the 
teacher becomes interested, he will later find the whole book 
to be of value to him. 



OUTLINE 

I. THE ART 

II. THE METHOD 

III. THE MATERIAL 

IV. THE ACT 



CONTENTS 



THE ART 

FAGS 

CHAPTER I 
What Is Sunday-School Teaching? n 

CHAPTER II 
The Old and the New Idea in Teaching 2] 

CHAPTER III 
What Was Teaching in the New Testament?. 35 

CHAPTER IV 

What Is the Relation Between the Pastor, or ^ 

Chef Teacher, and His Fellow-teachers ? . . . 40 

CHAPTER V 
What Is the Purpose of Teaching? 45 

CHAPTER VI 
Keeping the Purpose in Mind in Practice 50 

CHAPTER VII 

The Process of Teaching as a Movement 54 

vii 



CHAPTER VIII 
Types of Teaching 63 

1. The Narrative Method 

2. The Interrogative Method 

3. The Descriptive Method 

4. The Recitation Method 

CHAPTER IX 
Other Types of Teaching 79 

1. Teaching by Discussion 

2. The Lecture Method 

3. The Analytic Method 

4. Teaching Through Examples 

5. Teaching by a Statement of Principles 

6. Grouping Material Under a Central Thought 

7. The Topical Method 

8. Method of Co-operation and Research 

CHAPTER X 
The Saviour's Teaching 89 



THE METHOD 

CHAPTER XI 
How Shall I Interest the Pupil? 97 

CHAPTER XII 

What Method of Teaching Shall I Adopt? 107 

CHAPTER XIII 

How Shall I Illustrate the Lesson? 114 

viii 



CHAPTER XIV 
How Shall I Apply the Lesson ? 122 

CHAPTER XV 
Value of the Question Method 129 

CHAPTER XVI 
How Shall I Use Questions ? 139 

1. Awakening the Scholar 

2. Momentum 

3. Illumination 

4. Vitality 

5. Accuracy 

6. Sustaining Interest 

7. Personal Application 

CHAPTER XVII 

The Teacher's Influence and Training as Con- 
tributory to Effectiveness in Teaching 200 

CHAPTER XVIII 
The Advice of an Old Teacher of Boys 220 



THE MATERIAL 

CHAPTER XIX 
The Bible as a Text-Book 227 

1. For the Study of the Teacher 

2. Classification and Division for Sunday 

School Use 

3. Limits of Allotted Time 

4. Use in Connection with the Christian Year 



THE ACT OF TEACHING 

CHAPTER XX 
A General Outline of the Lesson Plan 255 

CHAPTER XXI 

Things to Do in the Act of Preparing the 
Lesson 259 

CHAPTER XXII 

Things to Do in the Act of Teaching the 
Lesson 279 



How to Teach in Sunday- 
School 



CHAPTER I 
What is Sunday- School Teaching? 

This fundamental question is not easy to 
answer. To teach is to instruct the pupil in the 
Word of God and in the things that a Christian 
ought to know. Its purpose is to strengthen 
Christian faith and character, and to prepare the 
pupil for his duties in the Church and in society. 
It is to help the pupil to fear, love and trust in 
God above all things, and to love our neighbor 
as ourselves. 

TO TEACH IS TO HELP GROWTH 

If you should desire a sweet and serious spir- 
itual reply taken from the Bible, and filled with 
the charm of life, I should say that to teach in 
Sunday-School is to help your flock of scholars 
to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "Teaching is 
helping the mind in growing as well as know- 
11 



12 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

ing," * to which might be added "Training is 
helping the mind in doing, as well as in grow- 
ing and knowing." f 

It has been said that "hunger" is the best single 
word that will interpret child nature to a teacher. 
The living teacher seeks to cause growth by- 
awakening and satisfying the scholar's hunger. 
He thinks in terms of nurture. All education 
must come back to this idea of response to need. 
It is the natural way to growth. Will your 
teaching respond to the hunger of your scholar's 
needy nature? Then you are shepherding the 
lambs. 

Nurture is aiding the scholar to grow toward 
the ideal which God intends him to realize. Your 
teaching is to lead the scholar to see and to do; 
to vision and self-expression. 

THE FOUR SIDES OF TEACHING 

Patterson DuBois, in his book on "The Natural 
Way in Moral Training," under a biological con- 
ception of education, points to four kinds of nur- 
ture, viz., nurture by atmosphere, by light, by 
food, and by exercise. 

Education by atmosphere is to nurture the f eel- 

* H. T. Musselman. 

t Phillips Brooks says beautifully, "He who helps a 
child, helps humanity with a distinctness, with an im- 
mediateness, which no other help given to human beings 
in any other stage of their human life can possibly 
give again." 



WHAT IS SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING? 13 

ings. Our scholars' feelings are to be educated. 
They can be by direction, deflection and counter- 
action. Education by light nurtures their vision. 
To educate is to make truth visible, apt, vivid, 
wholesome. Education by food gives them mate- 
rial, for which they are hungry, to assimilate. 
Education by exercise is education by self-ex- 
pression, and involves choice and will. There is 
no growth without exercise. Any education that 
represses self-expression and denies the initiative 
of choice, paralyzes the will, and prevents genu- 
ine growth. 

TO TEACH IS TO FURNISH NUTRIMENT 

The biological process of growth is attained 
through the giving of proper food. And we have 
the direct command * of the Teacher of Teachers 
for our work, when He says to the apostle "Feed 
my lambs." If you ask where the food is to 
come from, and feel the need of a definition less 
vital and more intellectual, with the inclusion of 
a textbook, perhaps we may say that to teach in 
Sunday- School is to lead the pupil into the truth 
and life revealed for him in Scripture. "Search 

* Cp. our Lord's last great command to the eleven 
teachers He had trained : Go ye therefore, and make 
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the 
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 
I commanded you : and lo, I am with you alway, even 
unto the end of the world. 



14 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life." All the facts of Scripture con- 
verge in the one person of Christ. He is the cen- 
ter and sum of all that is to be taught from the 
Scriptures. "They are they which testify of me." 
Hence to teach is to lead the scholar into "the 
truth as it is in Christ Jesus." 

TO TEACH IS TO DEVELOP MANHOOD 

If you look to the goal of Sunday-School teach- 
ing, I should say that the answer to our question 
is furnished by St. Paul when he tells us that 
God gave us pastors and teachers for the per- 
fecting of the saints "till we all come in the unity 
of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son 
of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of 
the stature of the fullness of Christ." 

TO TEACH IS A PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESS 

Psychologically, to teach Christianity is to offer 
its facts and spirit to the pupil's consciousness in 
such way that they are recognized, tested if not 
self -evidencing, accepted in faith and imbibed 
with sincere conviction; and, as they are taken 
up and assimilated in reflection and practice, be- 
come regenerative and upbuilding elements in the 
other's faith, impulses, ideals, self-determination, 
character and service. To teach Christ and His 
Word is to prepare and offer the living truth as 
it is in Christ Jesus to the mind, heart and spirit, 



WHAT IS SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING? 15 

so that it will take root there; and, in growing, 
will free, cleanse and transform the pupil's na- 
ture to its own divinely revealed and inherent 
ideals of perfection. The Sunday-School teacher 
leads the scholar into the Scriptures, where, with 
opened eyes, his insight into the acts of God in 
history, his faith in the redemption and teaching 
of Jesus, and his activity as a Christian and a 
member of the Church will develop progressively 
in response. 

Gathering together these various points of 
view, I should say that to teach in Sunday-School 
is to guide the scholar into the Scriptures so 
wisely and intelligently at each stage of his de- 
velopment that his growth in saving faith, in 
accurate knowledge and in perfection of char- 
acter may be steady and uninterrupted, leading 
to definite service, through the Church, for His 
Lord and for the world.* 

TO TEACH IS TO DIRECT THOUGHT 

Using a mechanical simile, let us compare the 
teacher to a chauffeur who starts and guides his 
car. He pours in and stores the pupil's mind 
with the materials for generating spiritual power, 
*. e., with the truths of God. He creates an in- 
centive, a spark of interest in the mind. He 

* Cp. the latter part of this definition with that of 
Slattery, "Guide for Teachers of Training Classes," 
P. 1. 



16 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

touches the spark into action. He thus gets the 
wheels of thought to run. With his hand on the 
lines of control, he gently turns and guides the 
moving mind and will in the right path and keeps 
it progressing to the goal. The teacher cannot 
mechanically pour knowledge into the scholar as 
the chauffeur pours stores of gasoline into the 
tank. He presents one truth at a time and gets 
the scholar's reaction on it. Justice is not done 
in the simile to the scholar's response and his 
self -initiative. "Education implies the power in 
the learner to originate thoughts and acts beyond 
those taught. Children have this power. God set 
it in their souls. Those that guide this activity 
are . . teachers." * 

The simile of the chauffeur and his car fails 
also in not bringing out the intelligent co-opera- 
tion of teacher and pupil in their common pur- 
suit, and their mutual fellow-feeling and sym- 
pathy under the vitalizing warmth of possessing 
a common truth. The scholar is not a mere in- 
ferior, acting at the beck and call of the teacher. 
In these democratic days the teacher's appeal is 
to the common sense and courteous self -appre- 
ciation of obligation of the pupil, rarely to au- 
thority of office. His reliance is on the power 
of the truth in its effect on the pupil. He is the 
pupil's eye opener to the Scripture, the pupil's 
interpreter, prophet, counsellor and guide. The 

*"The Making of a Teacher," 1905, p. 1. 



WHAT IS SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING? 17 

teacher gains and holds his leadership by intel- 
lectual, spiritual, moral and vital pre-eminence. 
His secret of control is the mystical tie of per- 
sonal attraction and influence, and not the me- 
chanical pressure of external authority. 

TO TEACH IS A SPIRITUAL PROCESS 

We have emphasized "growth in grace" as the 
object of Sunday- School teaching. Jesus Him- 
self was "a teacher of human souls, not of human 
intellects." "Knowledge," says the writer quoted 
above, "dwells only in the realm of the spirit. We 
have not taught a thing when we have presented 
it to the senses. It is not taught until it is the 
possession of the spirit.* . . . Books are but 
the scaffolding that a wise teacher uses to build 
a human soul. But the soul itself is the product 
the teacher must see from the beginning, not 
merely the materials with which he works." f 

The goal in teaching is the awakening and 
growth of convictions and insights, of instincts 
and longings for what is godly, and of recoils 
from what is base. So familiar ought we be with 
our Scripture materials that what we say will al- 
ways bear the impress of our personal insight. 
Heavenly promises, words and deeds from the 
heart of God; strong and mighty purposes, not 
mere details of mosaic, or rich fabrics uphols- 

* "The Making of a Teacher," 1905, p. 14. 
Tib. p. 6. 



18 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

tered for effect, or dashing and splendid boldness 
in holding attention ; is the main material in our 
art. 

TO TEACH IS A PEESONAL ACT 

Teaching is a toilsome process. It cannot be 
done wholesale. Men can clothe and feed the 
human race by machinery, but teaching will ever 
remain a matter of personal contact. In spir- 
itual education we must get down to individual 
work. We may be able to plant and water in 
bulk, but we shall ever be obliged to weed and 
train by hand. 

Luther addresses us teachers as follows: "All 
ye who teach the Gospel become, as it were, a 
threshing-machine, through which the harvests of 
the field are threshed." Yet it does not do to be 
grinding in bulk; nor to use the sickle when the 
wheat is still in blade. A destructive bent in 
teaching may be mischievous. To do to one's 
scholars' convictions what Pharaoh did to the 
firstborn of the Hebrew children, may be drastic, 
but is not wise. Hare pictures the result of such 
excessive severity of teaching in these words: 
"Strength is checked; boldness is curbed; sharp- 
ness is blunted; quickness is clogged; height is 
curtailed and depressed ; elasticity is damped and 
trodden upon; early bloom is nipped." 

In constructive teaching we train the scholar to 
search the Scriptures and help him to think out 



WHAT IS SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING? 19 

what he finds there to such a conclusion as will 
influence his convictions and conduct. We in- 
terest the scholar in finding and appropriating the 
living seeds of eternal truth and eternal life which 
we call the Word of God. We nurture their 
growth. We pluck out the weeds of error. We 
root the scholar in Christ. We test the scholar's 
knowledge and keep him growing in mind and 
spirit, more and more unto the perfect stature of 
manhood in Christ. 

Our scholars usually are Christians, often only 
nominally so. In many cases they may be incipi- 
ent or very lively heathen. We meet all kinds 
and conditions of human nature in our work, 
and fortunately the one and only Word of God 
we use as our means of bringing results is appli- 
cable to all. The Christian scholar already in his 
Baptism, or through the influence of God's living 
Word, has been transplanted out of the kingdom 
of darkness into the family of God. Teaching 
develops and trains him in this new vocation. 

TO TEACH IS A SIMPLE ACT 

The work is simple, vital, requiring only one 
step at a time. The Church is the guide of the 
teacher, and should tell him what to do and how 
to do it; so that he need not shrink for fear the 
undertaking may be beyond his ability. No 
teacher who reads this book, if he takes time to 
study the Scripture, prays for the enlightenment 



20 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

of the Spirit, possesses common sense, and a 
love for the work, should be disturbed by the 
ideals or the technicalities presented here, any 
more than a mother, who has been looking into 
a technical work on the chemistry of foods, 
should feel uneasy as to her ability to prepare a 
simple breakfast for her family. 

TO TEACH IS A VITAL ACT 

It is not learning nor technical skill that 
"makes" the teacher. It is power of conviction. 
Reality alone gives power. What are living 
teachers? asks Margaret Slattery. They are 
genuine, she says, like Jesus. He was real and 
therein lay His power. 

"He was a real teacher because He had some- 
thing to teach, something He believed would make 
men better and the world happier. He believed 
it so profoundly that He said it would solve all 
the problems of mankind. He was so glad to 
teach it that He sat on the mountainside, crossed 
and recrossed the lake, met His enemies in the 
synagogue, stopped on the highways and byways 
of Jerusalem, went to the feast and to the wed- 
ding — yes, even talked by the well with the 
woman of Samaria. All this that He might have 
the chance to teach, 'I am the Way, the Truth, 
and the Life/ 

He taught because He wanted to. No one 
drove Him forth, no one pressed His duty upon 



WHAT IS SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING? 21 

Him, no one ever said, 'You ought to/ He said, 
'I must' and so men listened to what He taught, 
women believed His message, and little children 
followed Him. For more than nineteen cen- 
turies men have been trusting their souls to what 
He said. 

Yes, He had something to teach and taught it, 
eagerly, with enthusiasm and authority. The 
real teacher does that today, and he teaches with 
power wherever he is. The reason there is so 
much mechanical, empty teaching today, is just 
because men and women have nothing to teach. 
No vital, life-giving belief, no personal knowl- 
edge of the thing to be taught thrills their souls 
until it must be said. 

When we have things to say, scholars will 
listen, because of the irresistible power of the liv- 
ing teacher, whose message springs from the 
depths of reality. 

How many men and women everywhere in 
this world are living starved lives — the sympa- 
thies blunted by disuse, the emotions shallow and 
limited, capacity for deep friendships and large 
interests growing less every year. They are daily 
feeding their souls on the little, the petty, the 
mean in human life. If I am to be a living 
teacher, these things must not be true of me. I 
must give mind and soul food of the right sort, 
that I may daily take up my work with a spirit 
that is healthful, well-nourished and sane. Then 



22 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

the powers within me will cry out for exercise, 
and I shall plunge cheerfully into the work of 
my world with all that I am."* 

TO TEACH IS TO PLANT A SEED 

The Saviour has compared the teaching process 
to sowing seed. The teacher is not only the 
sower, but by continuous contact and care, aids 
and fosters the growth. Under this image of 
our Lord, we may sum up the answer to our 
fundamental question, "What is Sunday-School 
Teaching?" as follows: 

To teach is to plant a fact or truth or awaken 
an idea in the personality of another. The proc- 
ess is not helter-skelter or haphazard, but so that 
the fact will firmly abide, and the truth or idea 
will take root and grow. After the planting has 
taken place, there must be subsequent cultivation. 
To teach in Sunday-School is to plant Christi- 
anity in the mind and heart of the pupil. It is to 
plant and nourish the living Word of God in the 
heart of another. That is the whole story in a 
nut-shell. 

God does not work with uniformity in nature 
in causing growth in forest, field and stream. 
Under one general law the adaptations are num- 
berless. Some plants absorb nourishment and 
moisture through a thousand roots, and some 
through one. Some draw chiefly from the water, 

♦Slattery, "Living Teachers," p. 10, sqq. 



WHAT IS SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING? 23 

and others principally from the air. The methods 
of causing soul-growth are as wide, as varied, 
and as full of individual life as are the methods 
of causing stalk growth through absorbing of 
food and moisture in the rootlet. 

Teaching, then, is not a mechanical thing. Its 
work is to awaken thought as well as to lodge 
facts, to convey information that is dynamic, and 
to influence personality. To teach is to put the 
living Word of God into the people's souls. To 
teach is far more than to convey knowledge. It 
is not the knowledge that informs, but the knowl- 
edge that catches hold of a man, and cleanses, 
and turns, and revives, and puts a new spirit, a 
higher force into him, that will build men up. 
To rely on imparting any kind of knowledge to 
save the world is a delusion. The knowledge in 
religion that is of value is regenerative. 

God's Word may be used as a text-book with- 
out touching a single spring of saving knowledge. 
The mere literary study of Scripture, and an 
acquaintance with the outer facts of the Bible, 
or with the elements of morality are not Chris- 
tian teaching. Facts and dates and frameworks 
are as useful to the Sunday-School as the pail is 
to the housemaid's daily supply of water ; but the 
teacher who furnishes them only is nothing more 
than a maker or mender or merchant of empty 
pails. To teach the Bible is not merely to pre- 
sent its facts, but to apply its power. 



24 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 
TO TEACH IS NOT TO PREACH 

Jesus was the greatest of teachers. He seems 
to have taught more than He preached. Many 
do not appreciate the distinction between preach- 
ing and teaching. It is a valid one. It is actu- 
ally drawn in the Bible throughout. Preaching 
is a free lightning flash, traveling ever outward. 
Teaching requires a return wire to complete the 
circuit. The return does not travel through a 
universal medium like the air, but involves the 
use of a special wire to every mind and heart. 
The truth must run as readily on the return trip 
from scholar to teacher as it does in the original 
direction from teacher to scholar. 

To preach is to proclaim and impress. To 
teach is to impart. To preach is to announce; 
to teach is to enforce. The best teaching is often 
done in a class of one to one. Preaching sets 
forth convincingly, declares with power, exhorts 
with fervency. Teaching shows the pupil how 
to understand in detail and to do that which has 
been set forth, announced, and declared with such 
convincing effect. After our Lord discoursed 
on the right and wrong mode of prayer, the dis- 
ciples came to Him and said, Lord teach us to 
pray. 

Teaching does not rest until the response is 
adequate. Unlike preaching, it does not simply 
attempt to cause another to know and to do; it 
does not merely implant a living and burning 



WHAT IS SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING? 25 

knowledge in the soul ; but it endeavors to ascer- 
tain in how far the knowledge offered has not 
been grasped. With a keen questioning instru- 
ment of steel it probes for the defective spots, 
and when it has found them, it repairs them one 
after another. Preaching is essentially a power- 
ful presentation. Teaching is essentially a search- 
ing and probing process. 

The word "Teacher" comes from the old Eng- 
lish taecen, which means not to talk, but to show 
how to do. Teaching, therefore, is not merely 
proclamation or exposition; it is an actual show- 
ing how. The Anglo-Saxon taecen is closely al- 
lied with the German zeigen. 

Preaching is reminding a man ; teaching is help- 
ing him to remind himself. The whole theory of 
the pulpit is in the living testimony of the witness 
at the martyr's stake. The whole theory of the 
school is in the lisping and faulty reply called 
forth from the child on the mother's knee. 

Teaching, then, is not lecturing. Dr. Johnson 
once said you cannot, by all the lecturing in the 
world, enable a man to make a shoe. As little 
can we, by lecturing our Sunday-School scholars, 
give the boys and girls a training in Gospel truth. 

The pastor of any congregation is its head 
teacher. He is also its preacher. It may be more 
important that he should be successful in teaching 
than in preaching. His lessons to single souls 
may instruct, convince, and save more than his 



26 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

sermons to many. In the church, as elsewhere, 
private and personal training is likely to affect 
more than public discourse. 

WHAT IS SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING? 

The Answer. 

The Answer Amplified. 

To Teach Is : 

1. To Help Growth. 

Four Particulars in Growth. 

2. To Furnish Nutriment. 

3. To Develop Manhood. 

4. A Psychological Process. 

5. To Direct Thought. 

6. A Spiritual Process. 

7. A Personal Act. 

8. A Simple Act 

9. A Vital Act. 

10. To Plant a Seed. 

11. Not to Preach. 



CHAPTER II 
The Old and the New Idea in Teaching 

the new emphasizes the joy of self- 
expression 

The new education is right and wrong. It 
lays emphasis upon the joy of doing as over 
against the drudgery of doing. It walks the old 
teacher, with his iron rod, out of the room; and 
says to the scholars, "Come, let us enjoy the de- 
lights of knowledge." It relies on the point of 
contact, for kindling intellectual zeal. It upholds 
the joyous spontaneity of childhood. When the 
boy comes into the class, he should not be ex- 
pected to lay aside the freedom of his home and 
his plays. The aim of education is to bring the 
child to richer and freer self-expression. If any 
child does not learn, or is restless, or refractory, 
the new education, instead of advocating com- 
pulsion, sets it down that the teacher has failed 
to understand the child and to properly adapt 
the work to the individual. 

In higher schools, the scholar is invited,, 
through an elective system of studies, to choose 
what he will and to walk like a king through the 
gardens and palaces of learning. The will of 
the scholar and his interest and good feeling at 

27 



28 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

the moment are the teacher's only dependency. 
The new way in education is a good thing. 
Joy in work leads to harder work and larger re- 
sults, and children are not naturally lazy. If you 
give boys and girls a difficult game or a hard 
puzzle to solve, they will put no end of energy 
into the task. Every healthy youth is a storage 
battery of power waiting for opportunity. The 
scholar needs active work in which he is inter- 
ested. Instead of "discipline and repression" the 
new education sets up the motto of "development 
and expression." 

THE EXTREME OF THE NEW EDUCATION 

All this is good, and is a great advance on the 
narrowness of the old time. But it is an extreme. 
One cardinal fact in human nature, and in this 
sad world of ours, is left out of consideration. 
This is the fact of sin. Our boys and girls today, 
no less than in time past, are born a perverse and 
stiff-necked generation. In bringing up children, 
we are not dealing with baby angels. Father and 
mother have discovered that. Satan quickly 
plows an avenue through the infant heart to cor- 
ruption. Human nature is not a steady bit of 
energy which needs only "a little intellectual de- 
light" to incline it to the good. 

The new education has made things charming 
by putting "delight in doing" in the foreground. 
But it has done a sad thing in putting the word 



OLD AND NEW IDEA IN TEACHING 29 

"duty" in the background. Children are raised 
under the idea that only that which interests them 
and for which they have a natural attraction, is 
what ought engage their attention. They are left 
under the impression that no one has a right to 
impose on them anything from without. This is 
a background of pure selfishness from which the 
future activities of life are to spring. In so far, 
the new education is an extreme; and time will 
show that it is perhaps as evil as the other ex- 
treme of olden days in which the inclinations of 
the scholars were not consulted in childhood. 

It is not what a boy or girl likes, nor even 
what he feels he needs, that should be our chief 
concern in developing his character. If Chris- 
tianity amounts to anything, and "love of God 
above all" is the ideal of the Christian; and if 
the chief concern of our young people is really 
to be a "seeking of the kingdom of God and His 
righteousness," then that system of education 
which depends for its results on the child's own 
delight and pleasure, rather than on the law and 
the love of God in Christ, which the teacher is 
to bring to the child from without, and which are 
to be made the real potential factors within his 
development, is a failure ; and will prove itself to 
be such as the generations go on. 

THE EXTREME OF THE NEW EDUCATION 

In this respect the new system of education is 



30 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

wrong. It makes no proper allowance for the 
disinclination, the evil disposition, in human 
nature. It has no method of drowning the old 
Adam. It tries to develop the new man, instead 
of getting the heart, in Christ, to put on the new 
man. It assumes that all that is needed to edu- 
cate our young people is the proper expression 
of their own inner nature. The old education 
failed in trying to impose a system of knowledge 
and power on the child; the new education fails 
in trying to develop everything out of the child's 
own inner nature. Both are wrong. As over 
against the old, we have learned from the new 
that education is self-realization. As over against 
the new, we ought learn, as spiritual creatures, 
that the starting point in education is regenera- 
tion. 

We must unite the old and the new and avoid 
the evil extreme in each. We cannot develop a 
good manly character out of the natural ma- 
terials as given in the boy. This is another way 
of saying "That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh." On the other hand, we also hold with the 
new education that we cannot preach or pound 
character into any youth. We recognize the great 
pedagogical fact that expression is a part of the 
process of acquisition. 

RESPONSE MUST BE HAD 

There is no effective teaching where response 



OLD AND NEW IDEA IN TEACHING 31 

on the part of the pupils is lacking. There is no 
impression without expression. The little child 
must not only learn a story, but tell the story in 
its own words, and work it out. The chief work 
of teaching is to lead the child not merely to re- 
cite from the mechanical memory, but to do gladly 
as it has been taught. One-half of the educa- 
tional process lies in getting the pupil to trans- 
form impressions into acts. "If any man will 
do . . , he shall know." The old method of 
preaching to children and applying numerous 
practical lessons, without leading the child into 
an exercise of its own powers of activity, pro- 
duces the impression that religion is an external 
veneer to be acquired, not an inner spiritual life 
and faith and character. 

Religious education is under investigation. 
Many churches meet the trying situation by giv- 
ing up the one thing valuable in religion, which 
is the redemption in Christ Jesus. We should 
meet the situation not by putting the child into 
superficial touch with Christ, but by having His 
redemption vitalize and energize the process of 
teaching. 

INSTRUCTION AND TRAINING 

Education is not chiefly instruction; but it is 
instruction and training. The congregation that 
establishes a Sunday- School and forgets the need 
of training in the Christian life, is not doing its 



32 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

duty. We have a vital center of training in the 
Sacrament of Holy Baptism. All that follows in 
the education of the child is a development by 
the Word of God of that divine seed. Our con- 
ception of educating children is central and vital. 
Many Sunday- Schools practically overlook the 
need of co-operation in child training. Church 
and home, teacher and parent, must co-operate. 
A most important work is to instruct and train 
the parents. The teacher, the pastor, the deacon- 
ess are the ties that bind home and scholar with 
the school. If you do not know the scholar's 
home, you often cannot understand the scholar. 
A teacher out of touch with the home may do 
much harm. 

CO-OPERATION IN EDUCATION 

We know that you are too busy to become ac- 
quainted with the children's parents and homes. 
We know also that many mothers, with their 
household and social cares, have no time or will 
to make the teacher their friend. But this is a 
serious business. You ought find time, and you 
will not only receive God's blessing in such work, 
and gain much spiritual experience, but will begin 
unexpected and valuable friendships. 

A child's health is a leading feature in its be- 
havior, and should be taken into account in the 
treatment you give it. The mother knows more 
of this than any one else. A child's home often 



OLD AND NEW IDEA IN TEACHING 33 

determines the lessons and personal advice he 
needs, and the parents of your children should 
learn from you how earnestly you are trying to 
give these lessons, and for what purpose. You 
should be on good terms with the parents, so as 
to be able to explain if anything should arise in 
connection with the child's behavior or attend- 
ance. If home and school are divided in the 
principle of training, the child will accept neither 
as an authority. His faith and character may 
perish in the breach. It is sometimes a question 
which perhaps you should decide, whether you 
should retain in your class and mingle in your 
training the docile lambs of the flock, with the 
children of those homes where the will of the 
parent is not to be counted as on the side of the 
Church and the Gospel. Where the will of the 
parent can be depended on to support the will 
of God and the school, many matters of conduct 
and training can be remedied by a confidential 
conference, and by mutual co-operation between 
parents and teacher.* 

"If the child feels that his mother and teacher 
are friends, he is not so likely to prove trouble- 

*The public schools have recognized the force of 
these truths by the establishment of Parent-Teacher 
Associations. Never has the State been so alive to 
child welfare in organized education and in social or- 
ganization against unfavorable environment as it is to- 
day. The Church should be equally alert. 



34 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

some to his mother's friends. In cases where 
the parents are dissatisfied they should do the 
teacher the justice of first seeing her and getting 
her point of view before passing judgment." * 
May God hasten the day when education and 
training of scholars will be taken up in earnest 
by His Church and School! May He turn our 
thoughts and care to this subject. May He hasten 
the abandonment of loose and careless methods 
by teachers who deceive themselves and the truth 
is not in them. May He solve for our poor 
perplexed teachers in His own time, the obstacles 
that press against them from the home, the play- 
ground, the public school, and the street, and that 
render difficult a normal Christian training in 
this enlightened age and this free land! 

THE OLD AND THE NEW IDEA IN TEACHING 

1. The Joy of Self-Expression. Electives. 

2. Self-Centered Children are Not Baby Angels. 

3. The Extreme of the New Education. 

4. The Extreme of the Old Education. 

5. Response in the Child. 

6. Instruction and Training. 

7. Co-operation between the various forces of Or- 
ganized Education, including the Sunday-School teacher 
and the home. 

* McConaughy and Bartow, "Sunday-School Teach- 
ing and Management," 1916. 



CHAPTER III 

What was Teaching in the New Testament ? 

It may seem startling to say that our Lord 
Himself was more a teacher than a preacher. But 
it is a fact. In all four Gospels the name usually 
given Him is "Teacher." The Greek word is 
"Didaskalos." It is translated "Master" in the 
Authorized Version of the Bible, but in the Amer- 
ican Revised Version it is actually rendered 
"Teacher." He was called "Teacher" not only 
by His disciples, but also by such outsiders as 
the Pharisees and Herodians. When Nicodemus 
approached Him he used the recognized Jewish 
form of addressing a teacher, viz., "Rabbi." 
Nicodemus proceeded to state that Jesus was 
known to be a Teacher come from God. 

JESUS WAS A TEACHER 

It is true that our Saviour began His public 
ministry with the preaching or proclamation of 
the Gospel of God, but He soon proceeded, after 
He had gathered some followers, from preaching 
to instruction, and it was with this instruction 
rather than with preaching that the major part 
of His ministry was occupied. 

One main part of His work was the instruction 
of the disciples in the mysteries of the kingdom 
35 



36 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

of God, its nature, laws and principles, and of 
His own relation to it. We read that He was in 
the habit of "teaching as one that had authority." 
We read that Jesus went throughout all Galilee 
"teaching and preaching." After giving His dis- 
ciples instruction, He departed from them "to 
teach and preach in the cities." The elders came 
unto Him as he was "teaching." They said to 
Him, "Teacher, we know that Thou art true and 
teachest the way of God in truth." He told those 
that came out to capture Him that He had sat 
every day in the temple with them "teaching." 
When He entered into a synagogue "He taught 
there." When the people resorted to Him by 
the seaside He "taught" there. He "taught them 
many things by parables." He went round about 
the villages "teaching." He began to "teach" His 
disciples a lesson that was very hard for them 
to learn, namely, that the Son of Man must suffer 
many things. We are told by Mark that it was 
His wont "to teach the people." Luke tells us 
that He "taught the people on the Sabbath days." 
He tells His own disciples that the Holy Ghost 
shall "teach" them what they are to say in the 
future. While He journeyed toward Jerusalem 
He "taught" on the way. The people who shall 
stand without on the day of judgment will say to 
Him, "Thou hast taught in our streets." The 
high priest told Pilate that He "taught" through- 
out all Jewry. 



TEACHING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 37 

Jesus says that His Father has "taught" Him 
and that the Holy Ghost will "teach" His disciples 
all things. When Luke begins the story of the 
Acts he does not write of our Lord as a preacher, 
but "of all that Jesus began both to do and teach 
until the day in which He was taken up." The 
Apostles also, after Christ's ascension, ceased not 
"to teach and preach Jesus Christ both daily in 
the temple and also in other houses." 

THE APOSTLES WERE TEACHERS 

It is true that the Apostles testified and 
preached the word of the Lord in Jerusalem and 
in many villages of the Samaritans, but when op- 
portunity presented itself they also taught this 
word as Philip did to the eunuch when he asked 
him, "Understandeth thou what thou readest?" 
preaching and teaching in the same moment. 

The great preacher, Paul, in Ephesus taught 
the people both publicly and from house to house. 
The epistles of St. Paul show that teaching was 
an especial function of the apostolic church apart 
from preaching. He tells the Romans that they 
possess different gifts in their congregation, and 
distinguishes between prophesying, ministering, 
teaching, exhorting, giving, and managing. Though 
this list would not in itself be sufficient evidence 
that there was a definite office of teaching in the 
apostolic church, for the reason that the last of 
the functions mentioned by the Apostle in the 



38 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

same connection, are of a general character, yet 
when taken with what the Apostle says in a simi- 
lar passage in I Corinthians, the conclusion is 
clear. He says : "God has set some in the church, 
first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teach- 
ers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, 
helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are 
all apostles ? Are all prophets ? Are all teachers ? 
Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts 
of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all 
interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts." 
To the Ephesians, to whom Paul himself had 
taught in going from house to house, the Apostle 
says that God has given "some, apostles; some, 
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pas- 
tors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints." 
Here it is clearly shown not only that the office 
of the teacher is a distinctive office, but that the 
pastor and the teacher are one and the same per- 
son, while the evangelist, whose function is to 
preach, is a different person. 

In speaking to Timothy, the Apostle declares 
himself to be ordained a preacher and an apostle, 
and a teacher. He tells Timothy that the bishop 
or pastor must be a good teacher, "apt to teach." 
He also says that a special honor is to be given to 
the elders or pastors "who labor in the word and 
in the teaching," which perhaps may indicate that 
teaching was not carried on by all the elders. The 
apostle will not allow women to teach publicly in 



TEACHING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 39 

the church (I Tim. 2: 12), yet he writes of aged 
women that they shall be "teachers of that which 
is good." 

We see, then, how greatly both our Lord and 
the Apostles relied on the agency and method of 
teaching, after a congregation had once been es- 
tablished, for the proper growth and nurture of 
the people in spiritual truth and practice. The 
church today needs teachers as much as ever it 
did. 

WHAT WAS TEACHING IN THE NEW TESTA- 
MENT? 

1. The Word "Teacher" as used in the New Testa- 
ment. 

2. Our Lord as a Teacher. 

3. The Holy Ghost as a Teacher. 

4. The Apostles as Teachers. 

5. The Apostle's Injunction to Timothy. 



CHAPTER IV 

What is the Relation Between the Pastor 
and His Fellow-Teachers? 

I have assumed that the pastor is the congre- 
gation's head teacher. For the New Testament 
makes teaching a primal part of his vocation. A 
pastor who for any reason takes no interest in 
his school is to that extent no pastor. He should 
be in touch with the instruction and the spiritual 
life of the school. This is his particular voca- 
tion. His direction and authority should not be 
repressive, but vital. All the teaching should be 
under his supervision, and no truth should be 
taught without his consent. The Gospel he 
preaches, the faith he stands for, and none other, 
should permeate every channel of the school. 

And is not the pastor responsible not only for 
the soundness of the teaching, but also for its 
success? It is his to see not merely that 'sound 
doctrine is taught, but that sound doctrine is 
taught/ If he has not the teachers, let him make 
them. If he has good material, it can be trained. 
If he has bad material, he can improve it. This 
is his business. He is the teacher. A pastor 
who is not interested in his school, who is not 
given to emphasize the teaching side of his labors, 

40 



RELATION OF PASTOR AND TEACHERS 41 

is wronging his Master, his work and himself. 

There may sometimes be reasons why a pastor 
does not take any interest in his school. He may 
not be really wanted there. He may be made to 
feel, when he does come, that his views are of 
no account. Not long ago a correspondent wrote 
to me as a Sunday-School editor: "You your- 
selves" (meaning the pastors and heads of the 
Church) "have neglected us. You do not allow 
us to have the helps we wish, and do not teach 
us yourselves. Who is to teach us ? The major- 
ity of pastors in — " (she mentions the city in 
which she resides) — "never see the Sunday- 
School; much less have they time to devote to it." 
We wonder how such a charge can be true? It 
can best be discussed on the basis of actual con- 
ditions. Here it is sufficient to write large the 
fact that the pastor, by his commission, is the 
teacher. 

Yet the pastor is not primarily a teacher of 
children. We do not anywhere read that Christ 
and His disciples spent their time in instructing 
little ones or youths — though He had time in 
abundance for blessing them — as indeed all 
earnest pastors now have for baptizing them. 
The pastor is the teacher of the adults of the 
congregation not less than of their children. 

Surely the fathers are as much in need of 
being taught as the sons — sometimes more. The 
current conception of a teaching church, viz., one 



42 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

that provides a school for the little ones, and for 
youngsters ; and that believes when it has a good 
school for its younger people, it has done its 
duty, is faulty. To feed the lambs, and neglect 
the feeding of the sheep, is poor economy. Con- 
trary to what is usually assumed and believed in 
our day, Christ laid stress on the feeding of the 
sheep — the big ones, I mean. This is the pastor's 
true work. The pastoral epistles show us that 
all— yes, and the adults especially — are to be 
taught. 

As head teacher, it is not said that the pastor 
is to do all the teaching himself. The fact is, 
some pastors are not actually qualified as all- 
around teachers. Place them at the head of the 
primary department, or even in the midst of a 
latter-day group of boys and girls, and they cut 
a sorry figure. Does not the Bible tell us that 
teaching is a gift; and that it is given to some? 
Apparently not all preachers possess it. Nor is 
a good teacher for one kind necessarily a good 
teacher for all kinds of people. 

I should not doubt that the grandmother Lois 
was a better teacher for the little boy Timothy 
than would have been the Apostle Paul, with all 
his inspiration! The minister's youthful 
daughter, though she know so much less of the 
doctrine than her father, may be a better teacher 
for little ones than the minister. It may be so 
with many a young girl. In that case, it is the 



RELATION OF PASTOR AND TEACHERS 43 

minister's business to prize the gift in another 
and to train it; to see that the gifted one is 
grounded more and more in the truth, to teach 
her to use her Bible, to prevent her from drifting 
into error, to test and guide her teaching powers ; 
but not to push her to a side and try to do all 
the teaching himself. 

Surely it is a blessing that the Lord has di- 
vided out the gifts in a congregation, and dis- 
tributed them among many, and it is a vain, un- 
wholesome and unscriptural assumption, if the 
pastor be persuaded to believe that he combines 
all the gifts and powers in his own personality. 
Where a pastor attempts to be the whole con- 
gregation himself — the business manager, or, as 
Paul puts it, "having the rule" ; "the evangelist" 
or preacher ; "the exhorter" or adviser and coun- 
sellor; the teacher; the almoner or gatherer and 
dispenser of beneficence, though he were — as he 
rarely is — a universal success in all these re- 
spects, he surely is suppressing many other peo- 
ple's talents and allowing much God-given energy 
to waste its fragrance on the desert air. 

The pastor has the right to employ helpers. 
He has this right in the matter of teaching. It 
is impossible for him to attend to it in all its 
details as well by himself as he can with the aid 
of deaconess, parochial teacher or Sunday-School 
teachers gifted and trained for primary, inter- 
mediate and senior work. The pastor is respon- 



44 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

sible for all the teaching, but he need not do any 
of it, except teach the teachers, if he can secure 
better results in that way. 

A church with many good teachers is a bless- 
ing to itself, and to all the homes within its par- 
ish. Attend to the f ountainhead, O pastors. Train 
the teachers. Train the parents. Then will the 
children be well-taught and trained. This, ap- 
parently, was the method of Christ, who trained 
the Twelve; and of the apostles, who trained 
their helpers. 

RELATION BETWEEN THE PASTOR AND HIS 
FELLOW-TEACHERS 

1. The Pastor is the Congregation's Head Teacher. 

2. His is the Responsibility that there be Good Teach- 
ing. 

3. The Pastor's Lack of Interest in the School. 

4. The Pastor Not Primarily a Teacher of Children. 

5. Adults Need Teaching. 

6. The Pastor Not to Do All the Teaching Himself. 

7. There may be Better Teachers than the Pastor. 

8. A Church with Many Good Teachers is a Bless- 
ing. 



CHAPTER V 

What is the Purpose of Sunday-School 
Teaching ? 

The purpose of the teacher is to make the 
Word of God clear and cogent. He is the in- 
terpreter for God. He is to find and plant God's 
Message. Hence he must be at home in what 
God has said in the Scripture. His teaching 
should have a Scriptural ring. It should be a 
fresh, suggestive, forceful unfolding of the text. 

THE GENERAL BEARINGS OF THE PASSAGE 

His first problem, in taking up a passage, is to 
get the intended sense. He must see what was 
the explicit thought as it lay in the mind of the 
biblical writer. This is the ground work of suc- 
cessful exposition. The passage is also to be 
considered as a part of the whole. A thorough 
teacher will have a grasp of the sweep of truth 
in the book from which the lesson is taken. From 
study and reflection he will gain familiarity with 
the background in which the scene lies. 

THE PARTICULAR TRUTH 

But his chief work is to penetrate into the 
inner significance of the Bible story or the text 
before him. He should search for the substance, 

45 



46 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

work himself into it, and bring up into the clear 
light what lies hidden there. After comprehend- 
ing its historic sense, he should detach its inner 
ethical and spiritual suggestiveness for human 
nature in all times, and for his scholars at the 
present moment. It is this ability to get at the 
real meaning, and to transfer its values to the 
people before him that makes the successful 
teacher. To furnish these two things, the his- 
toric and its bearing on the present; the literal 
and the poetic ; truth for the understanding, and 
truth for the imagination; fact for our sense of 
reality, and principle for our practical guidance ; 
the Word as God gave it, and the Word as God 
means us to apply it, is his aim. 

It is not always easy to seize the real message 
in the lesson. This requires a penetrative in- 
sight, and a devout imagination. One must be 
able to live in two worlds, the world of the text 
and the world of today, and to transfer the life, 
vital power, and spirit of the one, as a lesson, to 
the other. One must be able to reach a clear un- 
derstanding of the central thought of the text, 
and seize and apply the principle it contains. 

THE PRESENTATION 

By this penetration of our insight, our imagina- 
tion, and our sympathies, we shall open and re- 
veal the kernel and not merely be presenting 
the outer shell. Facts and truths are important 



PURPOSE OF S. S. TEACHING 47 

in themselves because they give us definiteness 
and certitude. But they often are of little value 
in moving our heart and mind. We must ap- 
proach our hearers through their sympathies and 
must ourselves possess a trained and delicate 
sense of ethical and spiritual realities. 

The man who has spent a world of study, of 
reverent meditation, of thoughtful contemplation, 
on the Gospel history, who has received and im- 
bibed the spirit of the life of Christ, reaches a 
vivid apprehension and delicate sympathy with 
Him, and a skill and persuasiveness in interpret- 
ing His teachings and life. Instead of going to 
the Word with views already made and second- 
hand, he has opened his heart to the shining of 
the Truth, patiently receiving impressions from 
it, quietly and reverently listening to it, continu- 
ally growing under it, and thus becomes illumi- 
native when he begins to apply the result of his 
meditation to the pupils before him. 

THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES 

Through great familiarity with Scripture, we 
gradually grasp the underlying principles of reve- 
lation. Particular truths gain a new meaning by 
reason of their vital relation to other and larger 
truths. We discover inner relationships and 
meanings that fairly open our eyes. This is an 
afflux of power, and is different from a familiar- 
ity with history, and theories of authorship, and 



48 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

dates. We gain a knowledge of the root thoughts 
of Scripture and are able to make these the key- 
note of our teaching. 

Our power will lie in the possession of funda- 
mental principles. Whereas other teachers 
' 'bring human life as illustration to the interpre- 
tation of Scripture," we are now able to "bring 
Scripture to the interpretation of life." Whereas 
others are familiar with the world of affairs and 
of men, and find its experiences a vindication and 
verification of Christian truth, we are students of 
Christian revelation and of the truth as it is in 
Christ Jesus, and find here the realization and 
interpretation of all that is truly human. We 
shall know the deepest inner meaning of Christ ; 
know it as containing the root principles of all 
human life, and thus we shall have come upon 
the key to our own human experiences, the key 
to all truly human life. 

These principles of Christianity in God's Word 
we should seek to apply to the times and the lives 
of those whom we are teaching. The spiritual 
always lies beneath and conditions the social, the 
economic, the scientific, and the larger problems 
of the day. If we grasp in the Scripture the 
fundamental spiritual principles of these prob- 
lems, we can often instinctively apply them even 
in realms with which we are not so familiar, 
with the confidence of the truth that has made 
us free. 



PURPOSE OF S. S. TEACHING 49 

In order not to lose ourselves, or our master- 
hold on our foundation, and not to go drifting 
among the speculative and practical issues of the 
moment, it always is well to stick closely to the 
Scripture. This is the advantage of the textual 
teacher as over against the topical teacher. The 
textual teacher finds the relations of things in 
the Scripture before him. The topical teacher, 
who probably is not so familiar with the inner 
and vital organism of the Scripture, finds the 
order and relation of things in his own mind, 
and is more liable to go astray. * 



WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF SUNDAY-SCHOOL 
TEACHING? 

1. To Make the Word of God Clear and Cogent. 

2. The Teacher is the Interpreter for God. 

3. He Must Get the Sense of the Scripture to be 
Taught. 

4. He Must Penetrate to its Inner Significance. 

5. He Must Grasp the Underlying Principles of Reve- 
lation and Bring them to the Interpretation of Life. 

6. He Must Apply Principles of Christianity to the 
Times and Lives of Those Whom He is Teaching. 

* Some of the ideas in Chapters V and VI have been 
suggested by a writer in another sphere, whose name 
is beyond present recall. 



CHAPTER VI 

Remembering the Purpose While Teaching 

in selecting a beginning 
The purpose will help us to choose the best 
way to begin. The teaching may begin with the 
concrete historical material of the text to clear 
the way for discussion. It may be an explana- 
tion of the circumstances under which the writer 
came to say what he did. This will open up the 
inner connection of thought, and show its con- 
tinuity. Or the teacher may begin with a verbal 
explanation, interpreting the meaning of the key 
words. 

Or he may open by drawing a contrast between 
what is commonly thought in the ideas of the 
time and between what is the Scriptural truth 
in hand. Or we may start by clearing away 
difficulties that seem to bristle in the Scripture, 
and thus reveal and open the pathway to a dis- 
cussion of timely truths. 

Or perhaps we may first point out the import- 
ance of the truth and at the very start awaken 
an interest in its application. Thus the discussion 
will attach itself directly to the Scripture, and 
our teachings will be a presentation of the sub- 
stance of the text. Still again, the teacher may 
draw the principles from the text, and then re- 
50 



THE PURPOSE WHILE TEACHING 51 

state them in a discussion or summarize them in 
the order of their importance for application. 

IN SELECTING THE TRUTHS 

In all these cases, he will be teaching from 
within outward. The teacher will be a real in- 
terpreter of Scripture. He will first interpret 
the inner significance of the truth in the Scrip- 
tural lesson and then apply it. A teacher thus 
will avoid wearying his hearers by dwelling too 
frequently on favorite ideas in his own mind, 
and the scholars will feel that he is dealing with 
the actual realities of Scripture, and making the 
Word of God itself attractive and fruitful. 

It is well to remember that our own ideas 
about religion are not religion. Christianity is 
something given outside of ourselves and our 
thinking. It is revealed in the Scripture. Chris- 
tianity is a religion that may and must be taught. 
It is not only an inner experience, but has been 
an historically planted fact. It should be inter- 
preted therefore not merely as an expression of 
pious feeling, but as a body of historic truth. It 
is something that God has revealed. It has an 
authority beyond our own thoughts. It is life 
that springs up from within, but it begins as life 
that shines down from above. In order to nour- 
ish the life that springs up from within, the 
teacher must furnish an abundance of light that 
shines down from above. The teaching will then 



52 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

take hold of the heart and conscience of the 
hearers. It will awaken a wealth of spiritual 
power and life. On the solid basis of truth 
revealed in actual fact, it will profoundly move 
the scholars. 

IN CLEARNESS OF PLAN 

Such a result will not come from a few mere 
glances at the lesson. Haziness of apprehension 
will produce indefinite results. We must use 
every effort to clear, keen thinking. We must 
exercise our powers of intellectual discrimination 
and analysis. We often must struggle and wrestle 
for the possession of the truth, and then must 
so order it that it will be perceptible to others. 
Our teaching should not be a mere speech learned 
by heart. It should have a plan in which the 
thoughts are reduced to method beforehand, and 
the words can then be left to utter themselves. 
Thus the entire movement of our mind will be 
distinct and clear, and will appeal easily to the 
mind of those who are listening to us. 

Our purposes and subject of discussion should 
generally be clearly stated at the outset, and then 
restated at appropriate points in the course of 
the discussion. Time will not permit us to be 
complete in discussion, but no matter how frag- 
mentary we are obliged to be, what we say will 
be stimulative to the thoughts of others. 



THE PURPOSE WHILE TEACHING 53 

IN CONFIDENCE WHILE TEACHING 

We sometimes underrate the intelligence and 
the thinking of our scholars, and do not appre- 
ciate the extent of their reading and the many- 
varieties of views which they have heard. But 
if we ourselves have made an honest and thor- 
ough study of the Scripture before us, and pre- 
sented it methodically, we need not fear any 
comparison that will arise in the minds of schol- 
ars with other views that they have read or 
heard. 

And in all cases we shall have the rich satis- 
faction of not merely having presented a tem- 
peramental message from ourselves, but of hav- 
ing acted in full honor toward our trust as com- 
missioners bearing the message of salvation from 
God. 

REMEMBERING THE PURPOSE WHILE 
TEACHING 

1. How the Teacher May Begin. 

2. He Teaches from Within Outward. 

3. Christianity is a Fact Given, but a Fact that 
Moves the Heart. 

4. The Teacher Must Do Clear Thinking. 

5. His Purpose as Based on Scripture Should be 
Evident at the Outstart. 



CHAPTER VII 

The Process of Teaching as a Movement 

Teaching must begin at some point and pro- 
ceed forward till it comes to the end. It is a 
personally conducted trip through the lesson. It 
is a tour. It carries one purpose through many 
scenes. It should be "conducted," but not too 
rigidly. It should be guided, but not officiously. 
You are the stroke oarsman and steersman, but 
you need a velvet rather than an iron grip. 

With your little, and we hope, expectant com- 
pany you embark upon "the wandering stream 
that shines between the hills." You sail through 
many a winding vale and meadow. Far off you 
descry the mountain tops, those silent pinnacles 
of purest snow standing in the rosy flush of the 
sunset, as your distant goal. This is no time for 
eating peanuts and cracking jokes. This is the 
hour of the open eye and exalted heart. For 

"Oars alone can ne'er prevail 
To reach the distant coast. 
The breath of heaven must swell the sail, 
Or all the toil is lost." 

I. THE START 

The first thing to do is to start. To cross the 
line, and thread the tugs and piers, and glide 

54 



PROCESS OF TEACHING 55 

buoyantly into the heart of the stream, is not as 
easy as it looks. This first move of yours pre- 
determines the point at which you will strike the 
main channel, and conveys to all a sense of direc- 
tion and progress. We offer a few words of 
advice. 

1. The immediate object of your opening words 
is to catch your scholar s attention. To run afoul 
there, is probably to fail in the whole lesson 
thereafter. It is not difficult to catch momentary 
attention. The secret lies in so catching it that 
you will hold it through to the end, and that, in 
catching it, you do not introduce sensationalism. 
Sensationalism is attraction, but with a number 
of powerful picture elements in the complex, 
that allure into side paths, instead of holding the 
mind on the main track, thus distracting it in the 
very act of attraction. No image or sense-truth 
which is sufficiently powerful and alluring to hold 
and bind the scholar under its own spell, instead 
of passing him on, through an open gateway, 
into the charm of the higher truth of which it is 
an example, is safe to use in attempting to 
awaken a scholar's interest in the subject. Many 
a good lesson meets with a tragic fate when you 
bring your deeply interested scholar to a climax 
in the side-shows, and you are unable to stir him 
out of them, to proceed, with further expectancy, 
to your real destination. Get a beginning that 
will not only draw, but will continue to draw him 



56 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

into the main line of your progress, and thus 
hold his mind to the end. 

2. Another object in your beginning may be 
to make clear to the scholars' minds what you 
really intend to do with the lesson, to light up 
your plan and purpose in such a way that they 
will ever know, from point to point, what you 
are aiming at, and will have an intelligent com- 
prehension of the various steps through which 
you are leading them. 

3. The first and lowest stage of success in be- 
ginning is to have prepared to hold your scholar's 
attention to the end, and to have induced him 
patiently to follow you as a leader. A second 
and higher stage of success is to have induced 
him not merely to follow you in your leading, 
but to participate with you in your thinking. Let 
him do the rowing while you mark the time. Get 
him to love to "cut with his golden oars the silver 
stream." Here his mind co-operates in sympathy 
and freedom with yours, and there will be de- 
lightful and constant companionship throughout 
the voyage. 

4. The third and highest stage in beginning 
your tour is this : You have induced not merely 
participation, but have brought out independent 
activity from the scholar's mind. If he takes 
positions and establishes convictions of his own 
under the course of teaching; if his spirit has 
reacted so completely from your teaching that 



PROCESS OF TEACHING 57 

it is forming conclusions on its own account, 
even if they be, occasionally, against your own, 
you will have reached your highest success. He 
will then have been 

"Taught to steer 
Though neither day nor star appear." 

5. Now do not think, from all that has been 
said above, that the act of beginning a lesson is a 
formidable thing, and that you must weigh and 
measure and calculate — and hesitate — before you 
plunge in. Very often your instinct is a better 
guide than your judgment or your deliberate rea- 
son. Your instinct will enable you to make in- 
troductory adjustments between your scholars 
and the lesson without your ever knowing it. Do 
not worry about which of several plans is best in 
approaching the lesson. Simply make the start 
as would be natural to you when telling a story 
in your ordinary conversation. Plunge right in. 
Take the leap. Even if the water be deep, you 
will come up to the surface again, alive and 
swimming. You will learn to float comfortably 
on a full sea, and take the current when it 
swerves. You may even come to find yourself 
flying high into the breeze where sea-gulls toss 
and shriek. 

6. Every one, even the trained teacher, is apt 
to feel a little awkward in making the start. You 
must have faith in yourself, or rather, have faith 



58 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

that God will see you through. The best work is 
done without that miserable self-consciousness — 
which so often rises to plague and annoy us, and 
render us nervous. The locomotive engineer does 
not keep emphasizing to himself either his own 
ability, or the possibilities of disaster, when he 
lifts his hand to move the throttle and start his 
train into action. He simply takes hold and goes 
ahead. Put on steam and leave the rest to Provi- 
dence. 

7. At times it is well to begin by making a 
preliminary clearance of difficulties. Perhaps 
you do not need to gain the scholars' attention. 
You may have it. They may be all attention. 
They may know you well enough to feel that 
your lesson will surely interest them. Or they 
may be so faithful as to have a stock of patience 
in reserve, and to meet you more than halfway 
in the theme you have to develop. (But do not 
presume too long on this.) Should you feel it 
desirable to use your beginning for the clearance 
of difficulties, or for any other tedious necessity, 
be brisk and swift in cutting your pathway. Do 
not dwell on introductory detail. The great 
river's dim expanse is still before you. 

II. THE MAIN CURRENT OF THE LESSON 

The watershed and the margins of a stream 
drain toward the centre. You must know where 
the strong flow of your lesson is found, and get 



PROCESS OF TEACHING 59 

into it. Then your bark will fairly glide down 
the stream, and you will escape sands, miseries, 
rocks and shallows. Your cargo of heavy truth 
will not hold you back. Put your strength into 
the great doctrines, and not into trifles. Make 
the trip profitable and epochal. Your class will 
follow you into the great actual realities. They 
will feel the thrill of the mighty power into which 
they are advancing. They will learn to love "those 
old sides of seared timber, all ashine with the 
sea, as they plunge and dip into the green purity 
of the mounted waves." 

III. THE TRIBUTARIES 

We cannot fully explore the tributaries and 
side-branchings of the lesson. We might get lost. 
We might dry up at a shallow bend, or be whirled 
about in a circle by an eddy near the shore. The 
object of exploring and using tributaries is to add 
local color, to furnish concrete detail, to lend 
intensity, to multiply interesting examples of the 
general principle, to gain a first-hand knowledge 
of original constituent parts. But if you allow 
yourself to be long detained in the tributaries, 
you will be overtaken by night, and perhaps 
stranded in the upper reaches of the stream. You 
never will reach the mouth. We find many brave 
teachers sitting still and desperate at the helm of 
their helpless boat, "through starless night and 
hopeless dawn." Remember, that you are ex- 



60 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

pected — yes — obliged to throw out the gang-plank 
and unload your passengers on schedule time. 
When the bell rings you must be steering into 
port. You cannot keep your scholars on board. 
The main thing, after all, is to have reached the 
destination in the given time, and to have your 
class know that they have come to the goal, and 
feel impressed with the conclusion of the trip. 
They will not thank you, or feel satisfied, if you 
must say to them, "Alas! we shall have to stop 
right here in the middle of the stormy lake." 

We are speaking to teachers who see the wealth 
of truth lying in profusion about them, and are 
tempted to dwell too long at interesting points by 
the way, and to wreck the voyage by failing to 
heed the time limits within which the excursion 
must be conducted. On the other hand, there are 
teachers conspicuous for paucity of idea, for lack 
of imagination and for inability to comprehend 
detail, who shoot the class right through to the 
end after a few minutes' activity. They have 
skimmed over the surface and gotten through. 
To finish the journey quick they have lightened 
the vessel by throwing the cargo overboard. 

IV. STEPPING ON SHORE 

The application of the lesson is dwelt on under 
a separate head. Suffice it to say, that the class 
should reach the shore with a sense of gain, with 
greater confidence established in the vessel and 



PROCESS OF TEACHING 61 

the teacher, with an eager determination to utilize 
the cargo they have brought back, and with grati- 
tude to God for the wonders of the great deep 
and the privilege of having sailed it. 

A little speed, and glow, and intensity of effort 
in the last moments, when the end is in sight and 
opportunity culminates, will add to the final im- 
pression, and it will be with great satisfaction 
that they feel the boat come gliding in to beach. 

"Courage!" he said, and pointed toward the land, 
"This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon." 

THE PROCESS AS A MOVEMENT 

The Start. — (1) Why is the first stroke important? 
(2) What is the important object of the teacher's first 
words? (3) What danger is frequently present? (4) 
Explain at length why striking language may be dan- 
gerous. (5) When is it conducive to the purpose? 
(6) What other object may it be important to keep 
in view at the beginning of the lesson? Why? (7) 
What is a third and even more important object? (8) 
What spirit do you desire to evoke from your scholar 
in the preparatory stages of the lesson? 

(1) In what way should one begin, and in what way 
should one not begin, so far as one's own feelings are 
concerned? (2) On what inner help can you generally 
rely to get yourself started right? (3) What outer re- 
sult have you noticed as following a direct and unem- 
barrassed plunge into the work? (4) What, best of 
all, will see you through the lesson? 

(1) What is still another object to be held in view 
as a possible desirability in beginning the lesson? (2) 
What is the danger here? 



62 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

The Main Current. — (1) What is the first thing to 
seek after you are started on the lesson? (2) What 
will you then escape? (3) What is the strength of 
Christianity? 

The Tributaries. — (1) What is the use of side- 
branchings and side-lights on the lesson? (2) What 
is the great danger in this use? (3) Explain the in- 
exorable limitation under which all lessons are taught. 
(4) Describe teachers who reach the dock too far 
ahead of scheduled time. (5) What have they sacri- 
ficed to make a speedy journey? 

The Stepping On Shore. — (1) With what feeling 
should the scholars, so to say, step on shore at the close 
of the lesson? (2) What inner characteristics may 
the teacher properly display in this culminating mo- 
ment? 



CHAPTER VIII 
Types of Teaching 

One can travel to the goal by many different 
roads. There are various types of mind in the 
world. No two teachers, if they allow their men- 
tality and spirituality to work freely, will choose 
exactly the same plan. One's individuality ap- 
pears in all good teaching. Your own gift, the 
one God gave you, is your individuality. You 
should use it. It doubtless has been modified by 
some experience that you have had, by lectures 
that you have heard, by normal courses that you 
may have taken, by books that you have read, 
and by a comparison of notes with other teachers. 

The Sunday- School system which your Church 
has provided, or the text-books and teaching 
quarterlies that are in use in your school, have 
had to adopt some elements of method, and in 
your attempt at conformity to these, you have 
been influenced favorably or unfavorably. The 
minds, age, and disposition of your scholars have 
also, often unconsciously, helped to make you 
the kind of teacher that you are. If you were 
asked to describe the type of teaching that you 
have settled down into as a result of your own 
gift and of all these influences, you probably 
would be unable to give a correct picture of 

63 



64 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

yourself as a teacher. But that type which is 
in you as a gift, which is most natural for you 
in your intellectual dealings with young people, 
should usually constitute the basis of your 
method. 

We may perhaps sum up the different types of 
teacher as follows : ( 1 ) the Dramatic Mind ; (2) 
the Interrogative Mind; (3) the Descriptive 
Mind; (4) the Mind that leans to the use of 
Recitation; (5) the Mind that loves Discussion; 
(6) the Mind that presents material in the form 
of a Lecture; (7) the Co-operative Mind, which 
desires that teacher and pupil both share actively 
and freely in the effort to get results; (8) the 
Mind that loves Research. As additional sub- 
types which may crop out at any point, we may 
mention the Illustrative Mind, and the Hortative 
or Paranetic, or Applicative Mind. 

I. THE METHOD OF STORY-TELLING 

First of all, and incomparably superior, is the 
teacher who can tell a story. The first priceless 
gift, especially in teaching little ones, is the abil- 
ity to tell a living story. The good story-tellers 
of the world have been few, and have carried the 
power of life with them whithersoever they have 
gone. Often they have wasted and abused their 
gifts, but on the thread of a story there hangs 
and to it clings the most lasting instruction that 
the world's classics ever have been able to im- 



TYPES OF TEACHING 65 

part. And whether it be Homer, Aeschylus, 
Euripides, Aesop, Plutarch, Chaucer, Dante, 
Shakespeare, Schiller, Hawthorne, Hans Ander- 
sen or Kipling, their ability to leave a perma- 
nent result has been pinned to the thread of their 
story, and their power of instruction has de- 
pended upon the charm with which they have 
been able to invest their tale. 

To be able to tell a story to tiny minds, so that 
the rootlets of the soul will drink it in, and sprout 
and flourish and grow, is a rare and priceless 
gift. To rid the story of all encumbering clumsi- 
ness and indefiniteness, and inwoven abstraction ; 
of all deadening and delaying explanation ; of all 
superfluous detail, and to present it, crystal-clear 
and sharp, small, spherical and complete, as a 
glittering dewdrop upon a rose leaf, is wondrous 
art. 

The teaching of the Lord Jesus thrills and 
gleams with precious tiny stories of this sort. 
The Pearl of Great Price, The Hidden Treasure, 
The Leaven, The Mustard Seed, The Lost Sheep, 
The Two Sons, The Fig Tree, The Two Ser- 
vants, The Lost Coin, The Rich Fool, The Friend 
at Midnight, The Unjust Judge, The Straight 
Gate, The Good and Corrupt Tree, The House 
Built on the Rock, are a few of these complete 
but tiny dewdrop crystals. 

Some stories suit every age and fancy, and 
time. Some stories are so complex in plot, and 



66 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

so laden with incident, that they appeal only to 
the well-trained mind. But for little children, it 
is the tiny and direct tale, the flow of the single 
rill of fresh and sparkling water, that is the 
thing. The teacher who knows how to tell the 
Saviour's stories, and the stories of the Word of 
God, is a teacher indeed; and, for certain stages 
of growth, is superior to one thoroughly experi- 
enced in the catechetical, or interlocutory, or 
comparative, or descriptive method. 

A story well told will do its own work, and 
will be active in the soul for life. This is one 
secret of many of the Saviour's parables; and 
one reason why He did not often cumber them 
with explanations. 

But there are ages and stages in every pupil's 
intellectual life when his most successful mental 
growth will require that he do the work. A 
pupil too richly fed with stories will come to the 
point where his future development requires a 
change of diet. The receptive mental process of 
listening needs to give way to a more active 
process. While, possibly, up to this time, the 
scholar has not been capable of instituting an 
initiative of his own, and of reacting powerfully 
and independently on the material furnished him, 
this cannot remain so. The growth of his soul 
would be very weak and flabby (as indeed it 
often is in Sunday-Schools), if the pupil re- 
mained forever purely a listener. The process 



TYPES OF TEACHING 67 

of absorption must give way in the scholar's soul, 
before the more active process of assimilation 
and reproduction. 

II. THE INTERROGATORY METHOD 

By asking questions that lure the child to full 
expression and by inserting questions at any point 
that will reveal to the child an error in his think- 
ing and bring him into a correct apprehension, 
the teacher, instead of confining the main activity 
of the lesson to himself, gets the child's own 
mind to be the primally active factor, and this is 
enormous gain. For whatever the scholar does 
himself, turns him from a mere listener, and 
from passive receptivity, into an active creator. 
The result, instead of merely conveying informa- 
tion, stirs up interest and the sense of power. 
The skilful questioner reaches to the goal of life 
as well as of truth. By deft and indirect sugges- 
tion of ideas, by the introduction of natural life 
contacts, by throwing the soul back on its own 
resources, by swiftly bringing it face to face with 
its own unexpected self, by stimulating it to ac- 
tivity in a useful, but hitherto inaccessible spirit- 
ual region, by getting it to move forward, and 
conquer and appropriate with all the intense de- 
light of an original explorer, the teacher trans- 
forms the receptive pupil sitting at his feet. Here 
the subtle and magic influence of a living per- 
sonality comes powerfully into play. Ideas are 



68 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

freed in the child's soul, and rendered motile, that 
will set it to make its own discoveries and draw 
its own conclusions. The teacher who can thus 
enter the mental and spiritual life of his child 
with the magic touch of life and action, will 
transform structure after structure, habit after 
habit, and principle after principle; and, if care 
is given to the new growth, will be a far more 
effective instructor of the Word than the most 
charming teller of stories. 

Our Saviour used this method frequently, in 
dealing with those who came to Him to be taught, 
although the fact that their minds were already 
mature, and their outlook established, more than 
once caused them to turn from the flood of new 
light and truth that were thus poured into their 
soul. Nicodemus is a striking illustration of one 
who was dealt with by the great Master accord- 
ing to this method. After sitting at the feet of 
the Son of man, God and the world and all re- 
ligious life were new to him. The young ruler 
was another instance to whom this method was 
employed, and it was so unpleasantly effective 
here that the rich youth sorrowfully put himself 
beyond the reach of its suggestiveness. But what 
might perhaps be considered the standard instance 
of this method of teaching, was the dealing of 
Christ with the two disciples in the walk to 
Emaus. From the time that He drew them out 
of their deep preoccupation with the question, 



TYPES OF TEACHING 69 

"What manner of communications are these that 
ye have one to another?" to the point when He 
stirred their souls to the dawn of a new truth 
with His question, "Ought not Christ to have 
suffered these things and to enter into His 
glory?" he opened all the Scriptures to them in 
such a way that their hearts began to burn. 

III. THE METHOD OF DESCRIPTIVE PORTRAYAL 

The third type of gift in the teacher is the 
ability to Fix a Scene on the Memory. This is 
the descriptive art. The teacher dips his talk in 
colors, and portrays a landscape. He places a 
charming picture before the eye of the pupil. 
This method is not the same as that of telling the 
story. The story is a moving drama linked to- 
gether by verbs of action. The scene is a por- 
trayal of still life whose attraction lies in ad- 
jectives of description. In scene portrayal the 
story element is rarely absent. But, from the 
story point of view, the instruction in a scene 
portrayal is often meager, bare, and unsatisfac- 
tory. The story proper runs direct to its goal. 
The instruction in a scene must be gathered by 
pointing out and applying the moral in the de- 
tails. Both the telling of a story and the por- 
trayal of a picture may lead up to climax. In 
the case of the story, it must be so. In the case 
of the scene, it need not be so. What more per- 
fect scene could there be than the picture of our 



70 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

Saviour resting at the Well in Samaria, and ad- 
dressing the Samaritan woman? But the diffi- 
culty of making an effective story out of that 
scene especially for children, is that both the 
action and the climax are overshadowed by the 
description, which is the predominant element in 
the situation and also in the conversation. There 
is a climax in the Saviour's conversion of the 
Samaritan woman, but it is not the part that 
dwells permanently in the mind. The mind stays 
by the Saviour seated at the Well and feeds itself 
with His utterances and their results. 

The Gospel of Luke furnishes two striking 
instances of a good story in which the action 
lingers in the richness of the scene by the way, 
rather than comes to an increasing climax in the 
finale. The one of these is the Parable of the 
Prodigal Son, and the other the Story of Dives 
and Lazarus. Both of these are told in the pure 
story form, and with not even a concluding moral. 
But in both of them we linger rather in the 
middle than at the end of the tale. In the one 
case it is with the Prodigal going forth and re- 
turning to the open arms of his father, and not 
with the explanation of the father to the elder 
brother at the close. In the other case it is with 
the death of Lazarus and Dives and the scene of 
their awakening in the other world, rather than 
with the dialogue between Lazarus and Father 
Abraham at the close. 



TYPES OF TEACHING 71 

The teller of stories is an actor in the good 
sense of the word. The teacher of scenes is an 
artist. Both lodge pictures in the mind, but the 
scenes are pictures of still-life, and fall into the 
static rather than the dynamic soil of the soul. 
If they rise in reproduction, apart from the pure 
act of memory, they do so in a gentle and brood- 
ing way. This sort of teaching appeals almost 
entirely to the portative memory. It localizes, 
impresses and reproduces scenes mechanically. 
This gift of local memory is very common in 
children, and frequently enables them to shine 
at examinations, and to excite the envy of fellow 
pupils less gifted with powers of retention. 

IV. THE RECITATION METHOD 

We come now to a type of teaching that im- 
plies preparatory work on the part of the pupil. 
The duty of the teacher, under the Recitation 
Method, is to assign the lesson to his scholars, to 
awaken their interest and sustain their sense of 
duty in studying it, to give them guidance and 
suggestive hints which will enable them to use 
their study time aright, and then, during the les- 
son period, to test by questioning, and apply 
what the scholars have learned, and put this 
memory part of the lesson into right relations 
with the rest of their knowledge, with Scripture, 
and with life itself. 

Teaching by recitation has certain advantages. 



72 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

1. First, it gets the scholar to work on his own 
initiative; he prepares the lesson. The scholar 
thus comes to the recitation with some familiarity 
if not mastery of the subject. His thoughts are 
tending in that direction. He has some apprecia- 
tion of what he understands, and there may be 
some questions formed in his mind as to what he 
does not understand. 

2. If the memory work is well chosen the les- 
son's subject matter will be definitely marked off 
and limited in the mind of the teacher and 
scholar. The close is already glimmering at the 
beginning. There is less likely to be rambling 
into outside fields during the teaching period. 

3. The scholar is more apt to take away from 
the period a few definite and well-fixed facts and 
truths. It is not merely a general impression of 
things which has been left on his mind, but some 
actual knowledge will probably have been im- 
parted. 

4. The teacher through his questioning, and 
through the more intelligent questions which the 
scholar desires to ask, will gain a better insight 
into the scholar's mind. A mere story-teller or 
a mere expositor, or a mere lecturer may teach 
his class till doomsday and never get a sight into 
the inner workings of the minds of those who 
are sitting at his feet. A teacher who remains in 
ignorance of the inner life of those whom he 
teaches is at a great disadvantage. 



TYPES OF TEACHING 73 

5. In recitation the teacher gains some oppor- 
tunity to train his pupils to use language correctly 
and fluently and naturally, and to eliminate all 
sorts of errors that have up to this moment been 
a part of the thinking of the scholar. He gets 
to know the defective moral and mental integrity 
of his pupils. He learns their weaker character 
— whether they will accept or reject prompting 
from their classmates, whether they will try to 
conceal their ignorance, whether they are totally 
lacking in interest, whether they are willing to 
lie and cheat and deceive in order to uphold their 
reputation before the one who teaches. Many of 
the double standards in life originate in the child 
very early through his assuming a false attitude 
toward parents at home, and toward the teacher 
in the class — for the sake of maintaining a good 
opinion before them. 

In the recitation the teacher also becomes ac- 
quainted with the pupil who is intellectually lazy. 
Expressing thought is hard work. The teacher 
will be surprised to find how his boys are ac- 
customed "to clothe their ideas in rags and tat- 
ters of language — half -completed sentences, am- 
biguous phrases, and even slang — with much poor 
pronunciation, and far poorer enunciation/* 
(Roark). 

It will be the duty of the teacher to stir the 
scholar to express his thought in clear, concise 
and complete sentences, and to prevent all slouchy 



74 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

thinking. To insist merely that the pupil shall 
recite in the exact language of the text-book is 
a poor way of conducting a recitation. It dulls 
the originality of the pupil and fails to call forth 
any activity except that of memory. It is owing 
to a repressive text-book routine in recitation 
that many a twelve-year-old child shows less in- 
dividuality than the as yet irrepressible seven- 
year-old scholar whose desire to question has 
not been tamed down by routine methods into 
correct conventionality. 

No recitation will be successful if it is con- 
ducted merely as a piece of routine, or as an 
act without connection. It is in the teacher's 
place to fit today's recitation on to what has 
preceded, and to what is to follow. His memory 
lesson should begin with a brief review of what 
already has been gone over in former lessons, 
and after the application, should close with an 
interesting outlook on the lesson that is to come 
next. 

Is Memory Work Essential in Sunday-School 
Teaching? 
The teacher whose main effort is to drill 
and test the memory, and to store it with facts, 
is very much despised in these days. Edu- 
cators look down on him as a relic of a by- 
gone and barbarous age. But, in the belief of 
the writer, the time will come when they will 



TYPES OF TEACHING 75 

revise their judgment. They may be brought face 
to face with their pedagogical oversight in a 
very stinging way, through the manifested de- 
fects of their own instruction which they have 
conceived it to be their glory to impart. 

It is true that a reliance upon memorizing, 
apart from the use of the understanding, was 
one of the signal mistakes in religious and sec- 
ular teaching in bygone days; and this mistake 
still perpetuates itself in certain kinds of stereo- 
typed question-and-answer instruction. But it 
likewise is true that the drillmaster who in- 
sists on accurate memory is indispensable today 
and ever will be. Without drill there may be 
alertness, life and ingenuity, but there will be 
neither certitude nor mastery. The recall of 
past ideas is difficult, and for those who are not 
gifted with a verbal memory, only comes after 
more or less painful effort. It is this effort that 
teachers and scholars (who love the easy way) 
seek to shun. But the ability of any scholar to 
use his knowledge depends on his capacity for 
recalling it. Forgetfulness is a loss of power 
to recall an idea already given. It is a part of 
the teacher's work, by skilful questions, to get 
the scholar to recall that which is gradually pass- 
ing beyond the pale of memory. Ideas that ap- 
pear to be irrecoverable can be brought back to 
the mind of the scholar if the teacher will use 
proper stimulus. 



76 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

There are two extremes in this matter. It is 
a gross mistake to depend on memorizing as the 
chief feature of teaching. Yet as an auxiliary 
and used regularly in moderation, it fixes and 
stores the truth in the scholar's mind, "line upon 
line, and precept upon precept." 

It is essential that even a teller of stories fix 
certain elements in the mind of the pupil. If 
this be neglected, the work will be defective in 
accuracy and permanency. Certain elements 
must be made sure by the scholar's re-telling, by 
testing, drill and review. When the teacher 
leads the scholar afield and induces him to make 
his own discoveries, it is important that mile- 
stones and marking posts be firmly set up. When 
the teacher takes the child into the sphere of 
worship, it is similarly indispensable that certain 
elements of prayer, of melody, of conformity to 
usage, be fixed in the memory. And when, 
finally, the teacher plunges into his favorite 
analytic regions of study, it is simply indis- 
pensable, as a preliminary, that he shall have 
fixed certain connective elements in the pupil's 
minds. 

The mechanical work of a teacher may be 
drudgery, but it pays. The well-known story is 
told of an old teacher of Latin who agreed to 
take a small class in Livy, provided that the stu- 
dents would write in their blank book, and re- 
view frequently every day, all the words whose 



TYPES OF TEACHING 77 

meaning they were required to hunt in the Lexi- 
con. At the end of ten weeks half the class read 
two pages without looking up more than two 
words. They had been drudges; but henceforth 
they were masters forever. And the joys of 
mastery far exceeded the woes of drudgery. 

It is the tendency nowadays in Sunday- School 
teaching to send forth children on the path of 
knowledge as stumblers forever, simply to escape 
the little drudgery that memoriter reproduction 
at the start renders imperative; but that so soon 
brings with it the joy of mastery. Do not give 
up the work of the drillmaster in teaching. 

In summing up this extended discussion of the 
Recitation type of teaching, let me emphasize 
that its usefulness depends upon the proper as- 
signment of material in advance, in which the 
teacher is to give the pupil not too much nor too 
little to do, to point out connections with what 
has already been done, and to graduate the task 
of preparation so that it be neither too easy nor 
too difficult. The usefulness and success of the 
method will vary with the co-operation of the 
pupil in regular study; and with the intelligence, 
freshness, judiciousness and vitality of the 
teacher's questioning during the lesson period. 

In enlisting the interest of the scholars in study, 
the teacher should warn them not to aim at 
getting through by the easiest way. He should 
show them how to work. He should give them 



78 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

a motive in their work, and provide the charm 
of interest, and when the scholar comes back to 
the next lesson prepared, the teacher should be 
sure to call for everything he has assigned, and 
should do so invariably, so that the scholar will 
not feel that his work has but indifferent value 
in the teacher's eye, and that his effort has there- 
fore been in vain. 

TYPES OF TEACHING 

The Teacher Should Use His Individuality. 

1. The Dramatic Mind. 

2. The Interrogative Mind. 

3. The Descriptive Mind. 

4. The Recitation Method. 



CHAPTER IX 

Other Types of Teaching 

v. teaching by discussion 
In the Method of Discussion, the teacher pro- 
poses a topic, or a problem, inherent in the les- 
son, and of present interest; and after outlining 
the subject thus brought into the field, and em- 
phasizing its limits, proceeds to ask for problems, 
thoughts or elucidations that suggest themselves 
to the scholars. The teacher's task under this 
method is that of continuous development or grad- 
ual construction. It consists in throwing a 
broad, strong simple light far in advance, and in 
commenting on what each of the scholars may 
have to offer, in such way as to keep the subject 
in its proper track, and constantly advancing 
toward the goal. Anything in the way of pro- 
longed debate should be averted or skilfully 
checked; and the teacher, who must not allow 
himself to become confused, nor to have his eye 
withdrawn from the goal, and from the succes- 
sive portions of time that can be allotted to each 
subject, must be ready to so combine the ma- 
terial that has been offered as to draw profitable 
and edifying conclusions. 

The topic may be proposed by one of the 
scholars ; it may be announced a week in advance, 

79 



80 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

parts of it may be assigned to each of the scholars 
for thought and investigation, and even for writ- 
ten preparation. If the scholars are free in ex- 
pression, intense interest and at times undue ex- 
citement may be awakened through the use of 
this method. Very often those who are most 
free in expression are also light weight in the 
quality of their thought, or too insistent in press- 
ing their own side, and the teacher must have 
sufficient foresight and wisdom to avoid catas- 
trophies. Above all, he must keep the discussion 
advancing along lines of real importance. He 
must fill out awkward silences and vacant spaces. 
He must prevent opinionated scholars from 
monopolizing more than their share of the dis- 
cussion, and he must see that the Word of God 
itself is everywhere made prominent as the foun- 
tain of truth, and the standard by which all 
ideas brought forward are to be tested and 
judged. 

VI. THE LECTURE METHOD 

The Lecture Method is, like the Method of 
Discussion, more usually in vogue in dealing with 
mature minds. It is the presentation of the 
material of the lesson, not in an oratorical or 
pulpit manner, but nevertheless in uninterrupted 
and properly connected discourse, and leading up 
to a practical conclusion. 

The teacher who uses this method will un- 



OTHER TYPES OF TEACHING 81 

consciously modify it and carry it through in 
line with his own native bent or gift. Some 
teachers possess the ability to impart to those 
who hear them a familiarity with the bones in 
the framework of the subject. Their gift is that 
of direction, proportion, emphasis, perspective, 
and they seek unification in diversity. Whether 
the subject be the Books of the Bible, the History 
of the Children of Israel, the Narrative of the 
Life of Christ, the sequence of the Church Year, 
or the truths taught in any of the five parts of 
the Catechism, such a teacher will convey to his 
pupils an insight into origins and ends, into con- 
nections and through lines, into binding cords 
and cables, and more minute threads, that de- 
velops inner consistency, and, so to say, muscular 
strength, in the apperception of the scholar. 

When the teacher combines this gift with that 
of graciously clothing the framework with flesh, 
and if, perchance by questioning, at the close, he 
stimulates his scholars to recognize and reproduce 
an extended train of fact in narrative form, with 
insight into cause and effect, he will have reached 
the ideal of his profession, and reaps its joys to 
the full. 

Again, a teacher with a scientific rather than 
a logical bent of mind will raise the subject as 
a problem to be investigated. He will cultivate 
in his scholars an accurate desire for facts, a 
habit of weighing both sides of a question, a 



82 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

realizing power and sense of localization, an 
ability to look for and trace historical problems, 
a habit of taking into account the environment 
and auxiliaries, and a method of observation, 
noting conditions of time, place and atmosphere. 

Some teachers are most successful in dealing 
with human character and personality. They 
are familiar with various phases of human na- 
ture. Their natural bent of mind is biographical. 
They find themselves at home in the analysis of 
human character. They love to seek out the 
motives in a course of conduct. They look for 
the effect of feelings and emotions. They point 
out the consequences of action. They compare 
and contrast two parallel characters. They may 
be very capable in presenting ideal characters as 
a standard for the scholars and in pointing warn- 
ings from characters that have fallen into wick- 
edness. 

Our Saviour frequently used this method of 
teaching by example. He contrasted the peoples 
of Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazin with 
those of old-time Nineveh. In various parables 
and similes he contrasted the sheep with the 
goats, the Pharisee with the Publican, the un- 
forgiving servant with his forgiving Lord. He 
set up the man of one talent over against the 
man with ten; the protecting Shepherd over 
against the pillaging robber; the tree bearing 
figs over against the one bearing thorns. He 



OTHER TYPES OF TEACHING 83 

contrasted light with darkness, natural order with 
the order of life, the ground receptive to seed 
with the kinds that repelled or choked it, and 
the manna of the wilderness with the bread of 
heaven. 

Still another type of teacher is the man who 
loves to emphasize general and universal prin- 
ciples. This man is very cogent as a close rea- 
soner, though he is not suited for immature 
minds. He must be located in the right place 
in the Sunday-School. The Lord needs the in- 
tensive power of Niagara, and the broad volume 
of the majestic Hudson, but he does not use 
either of them to grow pond lilies in, or to water 
a rosebush. A teacher who would be entirely 
too abstract for children is by no means a failure 
in Sunday-School, if he is put in the right place. 
He may be the very one to stimulate our mind 
in a search for principles, in grouping single 
truths into one truth, in emphasizing funda- 
mental causes, in making extensive surveys, and 
in bringing to light germ thoughts which, though 
hidden, are at the root of all else. The expository 
grasp of these large minds is needed to deal with 
great divine truths, with such fundamental prin- 
ciples as justification by faith, regeneration and 
conversion, predestination and free will, the 
church and the ministry, and the Word and the 
Sacrament. 

The Apostle Paul is a typical illustration of the 



84 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

teacher whose reasoning is adapted to the mature 
mind. He leads us into the deepest mysteries 
of the Scriptures and the most perplexing prob- 
lems of heaven and earth. Yet in his practical 
exhortations he is brief, courteous, bold and 
frank, businesslike and to the point. He gets at 
wickedness and sin without rhetorical flourish, 
and his use of the Word to the mature sinner is 
direct and radical. 

Up to this point we have been looking at the 
various types of mind that are inclined to the 
lecture style in teaching, and have tried to point 
out the more striking ways in which they adapt 
it to the workings of their own thoughts. But 
when we come to analyze the lecture-type of 
teaching as such and in itself, we find that there 
are at least three different general methods under 
one or the other of which the lecturing teacher 
will express his thoughts. These three methods 
we may term the expository method, the thematic 
method, and the topical method. 

In the expository method, the teacher seeks to 
get at the meaning of the text, clause by clause, 
and at times word for word, just as it was writ- 
ten, and deduces practical lessons by the way as 
he goes on in this explanation of Scripture. The 
order of his thought is the order of Scripture 
itself, and the bulk of his contribution is ex- 
planatory information by the way. He is a liv- 
ing and practical commentator on the text, eluci- 



OTHER TYPES OF TEACHING 85 

dating and setting forth, step by step, for our 
benefit. His success is determined largely by 
his skill in the selection and treatment of the 
points for application. His difficulty will be to 
prevent the class from losing the main thread of 
thought, and the sense of making progress, be- 
cause of his attention to the many details which 
he must traverse before reaching the goal. In 
order to keep the interest of the class at a sus- 
tained pitch, and prevent them from becoming 
wearied, he must possess a considerable degree 
of direct and connective thought power of his 
own. 

The adherent of the thematic method ventures 
his all on the successful selection of a central 
subject, under which the various parts of the 
lesson are arranged and explained as subsidiary 
and as contributary to the main theme. This 
central thought or theme is chosen, often after 
much study and thought, on the basis of the 
teacher's insight into the section of Scripture to 
be taught, of his estimate of its centrality and im- 
portance, and of the spiritual and intellectual 
needs of his scholars. 

The topical method does not start with any 
single theme as a great and organic center. Nor 
does it concern itself with connective detail. Nor 
does it exposit either the text or the thought of 
the Scripture itself in its natural order as written. 
But it draws out of the lesson-passage under 



86 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

consideration, a certain number of leading ideas 
or principles or points, because they are fruitful 
and timely; and develops and applies each of 
them. They may be unrelated to each other, or 
they may have a loose but natural connection 
with a central topic, or with the starting point 
or thought. This method may be said to exposit 
timely ideas found or deduced from any parts of 
the passage, rather than actually constituting an 
explanation of the text or of its central thought. 

The expository method is conducive to a clear 
explanation and sound interpretation of the mean- 
ing of Scripture, so that the hearer takes away 
with him a clear and comforting understanding 
of its meaning. The thematic method conveys 
a sense of mastery of the inner unities of the 
passage, very satisfying to our intellectual sense. 
The topical method applies or is supposed to 
apply the teaching of Scripture to the leading and 
fresher points of contact it may have with pres- 
ent-day thought. The good expository teacher 
is faithful to God's Word. The good thematic 
teacher unfolds its riches of truth in unity. The 
good topical teacher applies the truth of Scripture 
to present-day issues. 

Each of the three methods has its advantages 
and its dangers. The danger of exposition is a 
loss of interest because the detail overshadows 
the unity. The danger of unfolding a central 
theme is the forcing of Scripture into a logical 



OTHER TYPES OF TEACHING 87 

but unnatural channel. The danger of topical 
teaching is the cultivation of a deeper interest 
in the topic than in the Word of God, which is 
supposed to be its warrant and to constitute its 
basis. In the service of a bright thinker, but 
one who hastily and imperfectly prepares his 
lesson, and who uses Scripture merely to hang, 
as on a row of pegs, such thoughts as occur to 
him, the topical method is conducive to super- 
ficiality. 

Every teacher should conscientiously select the 
type and method that, on the whole, and under 
all the circumstances in which he finds himself 
and his class, will bring the results that he be- 
lieves the Lord intended him to effect. 

VII AND VIII. THE CO-OPERATIVE AND RESEARCH 
METHODS 

The Co-operative Method combines the Ques- 
tion, Recitation, Discussion and preparation of 
the scholars under the guidance of the teacher, 
in such way that each member of the class con- 
tributes his share toward the result. The lesson 
is started by the teacher, in the manner of dis- 
cussion, during which each pupil is called on, in 
one way or another, according to his own peculiar 
talent, to produce the results of his preparation 
in the work. 

In the Research Method the teacher becomes 
leader of a group, and assigns to each scholar a 



88 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

given part of the lesson to investigate for himself. 
During the lesson period each member of the class 
presents his part, which is commented on, given 
a valuation, and organized by the teacher into 
the combined result of the work of that day. 

The Illustrative type of teaching and the Prac- 
tical or Parenetic type will be treated in a later 
chapter. 

OTHER TYPES OF TEACHING 

1. The Discussion Method. 

2. The Lecture Method. 

1. The Expository Method. 

2. The Thematic Method. 

3. The Topical Method. 

3. The Biographical Method. 

4. Teaching by Example. 

5. The Reasoning Method. 

6. The Co-operative Method. 

7. The Research Method. 



CHAPTER X 

The Saviour's Teaching 

In sitting as pupils at the feet of Jesus, perhaps 
the first thing that impresses us is His absolute 
confidence in what He taught. He was sure of 
what He said. He never wavered. He knew it 
would come to pass. He was not disturbed by 
the presence of those who were opposed to His 
teachings, nor by the questioning of high digni- 
taries. He spoke from knowledge and from con- 
viction. Whether those who listened accepted or 
rejected His words made little difference to Him 
so far as the certainty of His utterance was 
concerned. All the power of the living God was 
on His side. If men would not hear Him, it 
was the worse for them, not for Him. 

Several great consequences follow from this 
absolute confidence in the truth which the Great 
Teacher possessed, viz. : 

1. The Effect on the Teacher. — He was never 
flustered, never defeated in argument by those 
who disliked Him. So final did His utterances 
become, when pressed, that we read, "No man 
was able to answer Him a word, nor durst any 
man from that day forth ask Him any more 
questions." 

If the teacher's certitude and conviction as to 
89 



90 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

truth are absolute, he need not fear criticism. A 
teacher who is uncertain or hesitating in his per- 
sonal convictions actually invites criticism. He 
gets nervous under the presentation of different 
views instead of welcoming them. He lacks the 
great and spmpathetic patience of one who knows, 
in dealing with those who do not yet know. Our 
Lord has promised this great quality of certainty 
to those who proclaim His truth. He promises to 
give it to us through the power of the Holy 
Ghost. "The Comforter, Who shall teach you all 
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, 
whatsoever I have said unto you; He shall tell 
you what to say." 

2. The Effect on the Scholars. — A second result 
of this certitude of Jesus as to what He taught 
was in the impression it made. No one could help 
feel how different His teaching was from that of 
the ordinary Scripture expositors of the day, who 
gave various views, who commented on minor 
things of the law, often adding very strict pre- 
scriptions and rules. The clear, simple, large 
words of Jesus made their own impression and 
produced their own effect. After listening to 
Him the people said, "He speaketh as one that 
hath authority, and not as the scribes. " If you 
will teach a truth that has taken possession of 
you heart and soul, of whose power you are con- 
vinced, and which you are burning and longing to 
impart, its force will reach far beyond what you 



THE SAVIOUR'S TEACHING 91 

had a right to expect. You will become the 
mouthpiece of a higher cause and power. The 
authority that is back of you will go out with and 
clothe your utterances. Your scholars will be im- 
pressed with the weight of the truth you utter. 
It will not be your emphasis of it as authorita- 
tive, but the authority that it reveals within itself 
that will serve to convince them. 

Hence this great practical lesson. If we be- 
come sure and full of the power of the Word we 
utter, it will be received with the respect that is 
its due. 

3. The Purpose of Teaching. — A third quality 
in the teaching of Jesus, following in the line of 
what we have said, is this : that He had a Message 
to proclaim. He was speaking for the life or the 
death of those whom He addressed. It was His 
day of opportunity and their day of grace. He 
had come all the way from Heaven to speak this 
Word. He had passed through humiliation and 
suffering in order to proclaim it. He was about 
to seal it with the sacrifice of His own blood, and 
to prove it by His victory over the grave. He 
spoke as the especially sent representative of the 
living God. "As the Father hath sent me, so send 
I you." If you, as a teacher, will accept and 
magnify your office, and will get the Message that 
you are to give to your scholars, it will not be 
necessary to amuse, to entertain, or to divert 
them. The great reality will be before them. 



92 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

4. Mystery Presented in Simplicity. — Jesus 
might well have felt Himself baffled by the great 
truths He was called on to proclaim. He had to 
deal with the deep mysteries of God and with the 
profoundest wants of the soul. In doing so He 
succeeded because He spoke simply. He took His 
terms from the experience of His hearers, and 
used arguments that appealed to their common 
sense. He illustrated by drawing pictures out of 
their own life. For this purpose He used such 
common objects as light, salt, and water, the birds 
in the branches, the hen mothering her brood, the 
tasks of the housewife, the farmer, the shepherd, 
the steward, the children playing in the open 
market-place, the feasts of rich men, the occupa- 
tion of the merchant, and the decisions of the 
courts. 

All life is built on eternal truth. Such truth as 
reaches us in our own experience, we are familiar 
with, and in so far as we understand it, it has a 
vital grip on us. If then we will put our message 
in such terms as appeal to the life, experience, and 
associations of our scholars, they will be gripped 
by the appropriateness of the truth as it applies 
to their own situation. 

5. The Direct Personal Touch. — However our 
Saviour was not satisfied with merely speaking in 
simple language and in understandable illustra- 
tion. He went further. He found a proper live 
point of contact between Himself and His hearers. 



THE SAVIOUR'S TEACHING 93 

He sought that one thing in which they would be 
deeply interested and were thinking about. He 
found out their problem and made it His problem. 
From this point, at which he found them in eager 
response, He drew them on to the real message. 
The Samaritan woman was interested in Jacob's 
well and its water. Jesus started there, and be- 
fore long interested her in her own salvation. 
Nicodemus was interested in the Lord's power of 
doing miracles. Jesus interested him in the miracle 
of the new birth and of His own death that makes 
our new birth possible. The multitude was taken 
with the multiplication of the barley loaves. Jesus 
showed them that He Himself was the living 
bread from heaven, greater than the manna with 
which Moses fed them. When you teach, look 
for the connection between that which interests 
the scholar and what constitutes your message, 
and proceed from the one to the other. 

6. Using Common Knowledge. — We all have 
some knowledge of religious truth, which can be 
used to bring new truths home to us. Jesus' 
hearers were well versed in the Old Testament. 
He therefore often started from some striking 
Old Testament fact. He referred to "your father 
Abraham." He warned by recalling Lot's wife. 
He alluded to the fate of Nineveh. He speaks of 
David and Solomon and quotes the prophets. 
His Sermon on the Mount shows how superior 
the law of His Kingdom is to the law of Moses. 



94 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

We have both the Old and the New Testament 
to draw from. Passages in the New Testament 
excel, for purposes of quotation, in showing us 
Christ and the substance of spiritual truth. Pas- 
sages in the Old Testament, which extends over 
far larger reaches of time, and covers the careers 
of many more personalities, are more striking in 
their depiction of human deeds and qualities. 
Both are open to the well-informed Sunday- 
School teacher. 

7. Making the Pupil's Thought Active. — Jesus 
made His hearers participate actively with Him 
in reaching solutions. He asked questions. His 
questions struck deep and hard. They never were 
neglected, even where they could not be answered,, 
by those who heard. Starting from the pupil's 
answer, he built up most effective knowledge. It 
was in this way that he told the story of the Good 
Samaritan in response to the question, "Who is 
my neighbor?" Thus also He brought the dis- 
ciples to clarity as to Himself by asking, "Whom 
do men say that I am ?" This was a simple ques- 
tion of hearsay. But when He quickly followed 
it up with "Whom do ye say that I am ?" it com- 
pelled the disciples to draw the great conclusion 
from the many things they had seen and heard 
from Him. Jesus always was glad to ask and 
answer questions. He used this method when He 
was a twelve-year-old boy in His early days, and 
continued it even under the insincere and hostile 



THE SAVIOUR'S TEACHING 95 

attacks of His enemies just before His death. 
When they set a trap for Him, His questions or 
His answers caught them. 

Think of the questions you can ask your scholar 
to awaken and draw him out. Think also of the 
answers he may give, and of the use you can make 
of his answers, to draw him to the Message you 
intend to leave in his heart. 

8. The Object of Jesus' Teaching. — His object 
was ever practical. He sought to create faith in 
Himself and to inspire and command service for 
others. He called Peter, James, and John from 
their boats, and patiently toiled with them for 
years to make them fishers of men. He told 
Matthew to follow Him. He converted Zaccheus. 
He asked for laborers for the harvest. He pre- 
pared them to face great dangers — sent them out 
as sheep among wolves. He warned them against 
a theoretical religion that brought forth no fruits. 
He dealt severely with the rich young man, and 
made a great promise to the dying thief repentant. 
He expected action as a result of His teaching. 
Whosoever will be His disciple, let him take up 
his cross and follow Him. 

While we cannot always produce these direct 
results in the hearts of our scholars by our efforts 
as teachers, yet our great and ultimate aim can 
and always should be practical. In many cases 
we are but sowers, sowing the seed, or waterers of 
that which has been sown by others, and must 



96 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

leave the harvest to be gathered by others. Yet 
our work will be well done if we have the same 
living and practical interest in our object that 
Jesus had in His teaching. Then we shall be do- 
ing the one thing needful. 

THE SAVIOUR'S TEACHING 

1. His Absolute Confidence in What He Taught. 

2. He Had a Message to Proclaim. 

3. He Presented Mystery in Simplicity. 

4. He Found the Live Point of Contact. 

5. He Used Common Knowledge. 

6. He Made His Listeners Think. 

7. He Created Faith in Himself and Inspired Service 
for Others. 



CHAPTER XI 
How Shall I Interest the Pupil? 

Up to this point we have looked at the art of 
teaching in the light of Scripture and from the 
point of view of the teacher's purpose, gifts and 
methods. But the other party in the teaching 
art, the scholar, can no longer be ignored. The 
problem of interesting his class is fundamental to 
the teacher's selection of any method. 

The appearance in America of Dr. Maria Mon- 
tessori, the Italian woman educator, hailed by 
many as the greatest revolutionary in the art of 
teaching children since the days of Froebel, im- 
pels us to draw from her ideas a few lessons on 
the art of interesting your pupil. 

the art of interesting your pupil 
The scholar must do his own thinking. You 
can no more think for your scholar than you can 
walk, or eat, or sleep for him. You can incite him 
to walk, tell him how to hold his balance, perhaps 
support him when he is in danger of losing it, but 
the act must be performed by the person himself, 
and too abundant aid given by the teacher, or too 
close a supervision on his part, ultimately de- 
tracts from the power of the pupil to do for him- 
self. "Learning," says Payne, is "self-teaching.. 

97 



98 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

The only indispensable part of the process — the 
mental act by which knowledge is acquired — is 
the pupil's and not the teacher's ; and the teacher 
cannot, if he would, perform it for the pupil." 

The first work of every teacher is to create a 
desire to know. When the youth cast off from 
the city was employed by the owner of a great 
tract of swamp land to travel up and down its 
boundaries every day and guard it from intrusion, 
every sight and sound was an enigma to him. As 
he passed back and forth in the lonely depths two 
caressing eagles dropped a quill upon him from 
out of the clear sky. A golden bullfinch insisted 
upon perching itself before him on the wire fence. 
A great green bullfrog sat on a stone on the other 
side of the swamp and began to speak to him. An 
exceedingly brilliant luna-moth emerged from a 
cocoon and began unfolding its wonderful and 
delicately framed wings of white and lavender 
before his eye. Sight after sight and sound after 
sound appealed to his mind with its fullness of 
mystery. There awakened in him the desire to 
know what these things meant. He determined 
to spend the first money he had earned in the 
purchase of books written by naturalists that 
would unfold to him the secrets of the woods. 
That boy now had within him, implanted there by 
nature herself, the first essential of knowledge, 
namely, a burning desire to know. 

Can you create in your Sunday-School pupils 



HOW SHALL I INTEREST THE PUPIL? 99 

a burning desire to know? If not, your teaching 
will be a dull and dead form, and its results will 
be superficial. But if you can awaken this burn- 
ing desire within the pupil, your teaching will be- 
come a living thing, it will rise to the height of 
reality as if by magic. Yet what is there in the 
subject matter of the average Sunday- School to 
create in the boy's mind a burning desire for 
knowledge? He has little natural interest in the 
lesson. Its substance does not appeal to any of 
the active instincts of his nature. Its freshness is 
already worn off by the fact that he has traversed 
the same general pathway in years gone by. In- 
deed, in many cases you can scarcely convince 
him that he does not already know all that you 
have to teach. The scholar in Sunday-School with 
a burning desire to know is an exception. 

Let me suggest a few things which may enable 
you to awaken this desire. First of all, try to 
kindle it in your own soul. Search for such 
points and pathways in the lesson as lead straight 
into the realities of life. Break through mere 
forms of language as you would through the ice 
coating the surface of a lake, and get down into 
the deep water. Life, natural and spiritual, every- 
where leads straight down into mystery and this 
mystery in its depths is inexhaustible. If you get 
away from the surface of things, and down into 
the heart of the fact or truth that touches your 
own soul, you will soon find life enough and 



100 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

freshness enough in the lesson before you. You 
will begin revolving problems in your mind. You 
will begin seeking a solution of things. You will 
begin rinding in yourself the first living sparks of 
a burning desire for knowledge. 

How can you communicate this desire to your 
boys ? Well, to begin, let me say that it is highly 
infectious. If you are really full of it yourself, it 
will radiate out from you in all directions, and 
those within the range of your influence will catch 
the thing from you as readily as they catch the 
measles from others. There will be something in 
your eye, something in your tone, something in the 
reality of your enthusiasm that will affect your 
class. But, secondly, a mere general infection, 
however epidemic it become in the class, may 
leave no results, for the reason that it will mani- 
fest itself without law or order, and will only call 
forth a confusion of ideas. To remedy this you 
must use an orderly discrimination, selection of 
view points, and intellectual guidance in order to 
bring the general feeling to definite fruitage in the 
short time allotted to you for dealing with the 
minds of your scholars. 

Therefore, in order to have the salient and 
really effective points of appeal come up in the 
mind of the class, and to have them arise in a 
proper succession, it will be necessary for you to 
think out the subject in advance, and, as far as 
possible, from the point of view of the boy who 



HOW SHALL I INTEREST THE PUPIL? 101 

is filled with a vague but a burning thirst for 
knowledge, or of the one who needs to have that 
feeling still more powerfully incited. And here 
begins the use of the most powerful tool or lever 
that you have in your possession. Ask questions. 
Questions that spring right out of the boy's own 
heart. Questions that lead right into the heart of 
the subject. Questions that the boy is unable to 
answer, but in whose answer he will be intensely 
interested. Questions that not only create in him 
a desire to know, but that he must carry around 
with him in his mind for a week or more, and 
which drive him to be active in seeking a solu- 
tion. 

If you can by this method create a background 
of interest in the whole course in which you are 
studying, you will have an eager and expectant 
group to greet you with the beginning of every 
lesson. The most difficult of all the teacher's 
problems, namely, the problem of awakening in- 
terest in the mind of the scholar, will have been 
solved. 

But there is a second thing for the teacher to 
do. It is not sufficient merely to create an eager 
thirst to know, but it is also necessary to create 
in the pupil an eager desire to do. And one of the 
best ways to create this desire to do is to get the 
scholar into a situation in which he cannot help 
himself, and from which he cannot extricate him- 
self, unless he actually exerts his powers and rises 



102 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

into action. This is the essence of value in the 
Montessori method. Not to do, is to die. Not to 
go to the table, is to starve. Not to find one's 
shoes, is to get frosted feet. Nature is relentless 
in her teaching. Good wishes and pious phrases 
amount to very little. Nature will take no ac- 
count of extenuating circumstances. She throws 
her pupil on his own resources. He quickly dis- 
covers that what he must learn from her he must 
learn without explanations, and yet she puts the 
spurs into the child on every side. As a rule he 
is far more eager to act than to learn ; and if he 
does hold in himself the secret of knowledge, he 
can scarcely wait for the moment when he shall 
be permitted to engage in the (to him) almost 
holy experiment of transforming his knowledge 
into action. And if the act be a success, and the 
conclusion warrant the promises, the joy of his 
triumph creates an epoch in his life. 

One of the difficulties in Sunday- School teach- 
ing is the small opportunity that exists to make the 
transfer from knowledge into action. Too often 
we are obliged to stop in our teaching at theory. 
We can neither induce nor begin, and still less 
complete the practice. This savors of unreality. 
Theory and advice are not what the boy wants. 
A result such as this is really a short circuit in the 
boy's mind, interfering and estopping, perhaps 
causing the engine to run wild, but in any case 
interfering and failing to connect with, the actual 



HOW SHALL I INTEREST THE PUPIL? 103 

powers and responsibilities of life. No boy wants 
mere advice. No boy wants pure theory. What 
he wants is the real thing. What he is interested 
in is genuine activity. 

While the teacher cannot follow out and super- 
intend this activity in the scholar's own life, she 
can do two things that are quite effective. First 
of all, by the use of illustrative parallels that reach 
home to the life of the boy, she can point out the 
complete working of the activity to the mind of 
her scholars, and not only stimulate and interest, 
but produce an effect on character which will be 
likely to operate similarly when the parallel condi- 
tion becomes active in their own lives. And it is 
worth the while of the teacher to take much time 
and thought in the search for such an illustrative 
parallel as will enable her to set the principle 
which she is teaching in her lesson on the actual 
wheels of practice, and set it agoing before the 
mind of her scholar. But, in the second place, 
and this is the most important of all, she can 
create in the mind of her scholar a burning desire 
to act. You have gone a great ways toward ac- 
tivities with a boy in your home when you present 
him with a new pair of skates. If those skates are 
just the thing to stir his fancy and to fit his foot, 
you have completed your part. You need not go 
out on the pond with him, nor even tell him to go. 
You can let the matter rest just there. So the 
teacher can feel assured that if she succeeds in 



104 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

creating in the mind and heart of the scholar a 
burning desire to act on the principle which she is 
teaching, she has effected her object. 

Teaching in Sunday-School often makes no pre- 
tense toward the awakening of this desire to act. 
It believes itself to have fulfilled its function if it 
has succeeded in imparting knowledge, but knowl- 
edge that lies dormant and unassimilated, as a 
foreign thing, in the mental chambers of the 
scholar, and has not been transmuted into the 
actual life currents of his soul, as these currents 
manifest themselves in his contacts with the world 
around him, is a formal and not a vital thing. 
Much of the formal and superficial and barren 
character of our teaching and our preaching is due 
to the fact that it lies in the mind as an untrans- 
muted theory, and has not actually formed a con- 
tact with the reality in us to which it was intended 
to correspond. It is in this way that faith be- 
comes intellectual belief instead of active trust. 
It is in this way that doctrine becomes an intel- 
lectual definition instead of a confessional fact. 
It is in this way that the Catechism becomes a 
mere theory of truth divorced from the practical 
activities of life. It is in this way that reading 
the Bible, or the lesson, becomes a mechanical 
exercise in which the numberless valves of power 
beneath the surface, ready to be turned on, are 
never used nor even discovered by the teacher. 
Please remember that the two great objects 



HOW SHALL I INTEREST THE PUPIL? 105 

toward which your weekly effort in the class and 
your preparation are to direct themselves are 
these : 

1. To create a burning desire to know in the 
minds of your scholars. 

2. To create a burning desire to do in the hearts 
of your scholars. 

HOW SHALL I INTEREST THE PUPIL? 

Create a Burning Desire to Know. — (1) What 
action is absolutely necessary in every scholar? (2) 
Illustrate this fact. (3) Quote Payne's definition of 
learning a lesson. (4) What is the first business of 
the teacher? (5) Illustrate this fact from the realm 
of nature. (6) What is the result of a teaching in 
which the pupil is not interested? (7) What will 
happen if the pupil be interested? (8) Give some rea- 
sons why the average Sunday-School pupil lacks an 
interest in the lesson. 

The Way to Do It. — (1) What is the first step the 
teacher must take in trying to awaken in the pupil a 
burning desire to know? (2) How shall he do this, 
and in what will it result? (3) How will the teacher's 
desire communicate itself to the scholars? (4) In 
what way must the teacher guide the general stimulus 
thus gained? (5) What is the first prerequisite to 
such guidance? (6) What is the valuable method 
which the teacher has at his disposal? (7) What kind 
of questions shall the teacher ask? (8) What will be 
the result of the use of this method? 

Create a Burning Desire To Do. — (l)What is one 
of the best ways with which to create in the scholar 
a burning desire to do? (2) Illustrate this fact from 
nature. (3) In what does the scholar's natural eager- 



106 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

ness consist? (4) What to him is the supreme tri- 
umph of knowledge? (5) Why is Sunday-School 
teaching weak at this point? (6) State the weakness 
more fully. (7) What is the first of two effective 
things that the teacher can do to overcome this weak- 
ness? (8) What is the second and most important 
thing she can do? (9) Illustrate this fact. 

The Weakness of Much Sunday-School Teach- 
ing. — (1) To what does much Sunday-School teaching 
make no pretense? (2) Enlarge on this fact (3) 
What does faith become under such teaching? (4) 
What does doctrine become? (5) What does the 
Catechism become? (6) What is the result on the 
reading of the Bible? (7) What are the two great 
objects toward which the weekly effort of the teacher 
should direct itself? 



CHAPTER XII 
What Method of Teaching Shall I Adopt? 

All methods have their weaknesses, and many 
of these have been mentioned in a previous chap- 
ter. But something more ought be said on the 
two great generic methods between which to se- 
lect in teaching the adult and even the intermedi- 
ate class. 

The first general method is to take the text of 
Scripture as your road-bed and teach it verse by 
verse, explaining the meaning of every clause, 
opening up the thought in that clause, connecting 
it with what precedes and with what follows, dis- 
cussing the persons, doctrines, facts, truths, cus- 
toms, each by itself, as they come up in the order 
of the text, and either drawing the applications 
directly out of the text as you go on unfolding it, 
or gathering the most important of them together 
at the end of the lesson and driving them home 
to the heart of the scholar. 

This is the exegetico-expository method. It sets 
forth the thought of the writer of the Scripture as 
he intended it, and makes the impression upon the 
mind of the scholar which the writer himself de- 
sired to convey to the reader. It is sometimes 
called the historical method, because it bases the 
exposition upon the historical details that are 

107 



108 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

found in the text and unfolds the meanings as 
they arise in the actual flow of the history that has 
been written. But the term historical is unfortu- 
nate, for the reason that quite a large number of 
modern writers, who insist on the historical 
method, are not true believers in God's super- 
natural inspiration of God's Word, and reduce 
the substance of Scripture to mere history and 
ignore its most important content, namely, God's 
revelation of salvation. 

This might also be called the interpretative 
method, because it seeks to arrive at the exact 
meaning which the writer of the book in Scrip- 
ture intended to convey in his writing, and then 
to interpret that meaning in such terms as will 
make it most clear and forcible to the pupil. 
The teacher who uses this method faithfully is a 
true expositor, that is, he sets forth, in the very 
order of Scripture, and by explaining the lan- 
guage and terms of Scripture, the facts and the 
truths which the inspired writer intended to make 
known. This is an exact, a faithful, a reverential, 
and an effective method of teaching the Scripture. 

But it has its limitations. In the first place, a 
great deal of time is required to go over the 
ground by this method. Expository teaching is a 
matter, first, of explaining the details ; second, of 
grouping them together in the order of the text, 
and third, of applying their spiritual values to the 
heart of the reader. Often one cannot explain the 



WHAT METHOD SHALL I ADOPT? 109 

historical background, the terms and expressions, 
and the content even of a single phrase or short 
passage of Scripture without consuming a number 
of minutes. Very little ground can be covered in 
the space of time that is usually allotted to teach- 
ing the class. And a great deal of preparatory 
study is necessary to render the teacher perfectly 
sure as to the exact meaning at all points, and to 
enable him fluently and without waste of time to 
reproduce these meanings and connect them nat- 
urally with the text. 

A second limitation is this: You are starting 
from the viewpoint of the writer, and not from 
the viewpoint of the scholar. In most cases you 
cannot presume much of an interest on the part 
of the scholar in the thought of the writer. For, 
first, the writer is ancient ; second, his thought is 
often spiritual, and not vivid or dramatic; and 
third, it is sometimes complicated and abstract. 
Your rate of progress in teaching is slow, and the 
stock of patience in your listener gets lower and 
lower, unless you have the rare gift of filling a 
text set before you with life and interest. 

A third difficulty lies in making the practical 
applications strong and effective, and yet not so 
extended as to destroy the proportion and interest 
of the original narrative. In this kind of teaching 
an application is really a practical comment, a 
seed shot, or sidelight thrown out, by the way, 
which must be strong enough to pierce the soul, 



110 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

and yet not so strong as to distract the attention of 
the mind from the flow of the text which is before 
it. In explaining directly from the text much will 
depend upon the teacher's naturalness of arrange- 
ment. He must not seem to touch everything and 
explain nothing. He must take up the thread of 
events in its natural order. Many a teacher's ex- 
position is merely talk at random. "He dances 
from the great to the small, from the near to the 
remote, from the material to the spiritual, from 
the figurative to the literal, and back again." 

It must be said, in favor of this method of 
teaching, that it is the real way. It is the one way 
to make scholars acquainted with the Scripture. 
It sets up the Scripture itself as the only rule of 
faith and life. When a section or chapter of the 
Scripture has been studied under this expository 
plan, the scholar becomes possessed of the real 
and full meaning of the Scripture and under- 
stands the Word of God as the writer understood 
it when he wrote it. 

THE SECOND METHOD 

The second general method of teaching the 
Scripture is not exegetical, but logical. It seeks 
to find the great underlying truth in the particular 
section to be studied, and then, on the basis of 
various parts of the text, to organize all the rela- 
tions into a unity. In other words, it takes some 
leading truth or idea in the lesson, or several such 



WHAT METHOD SHALL I ADOPT? Ill 

leading truths, and seeks by a more free use of 
the text to show the real relationship of all the 
truths to each other and to apply them in their 
bearing on the present moment. This is the 
method which a preacher usually adopts when he 
unfolds his text. He chooses a theme, divides it 
into parts which are related to each other and to 
the theme, and then proceeds to unfold and apply 
the parts, with a final and powerful application, if 
possible, of the whole. He often can choose as his 
leading thought such a truth as is of great interest 
or great importance to the scholar, and perhaps 
put it in such modern language as that the scholar 
will recognize it as a living question of the day. 
He is not obliged to lose much time in unfolding 
connections, in showing the relationships of 
clauses, in explaining the meaning of obscure 
words or phrases, but he seizes upon the great 
salient points, enlarges upon these points and 
makes them real and vital, and presses them home 
to mind and heart. 

This second method also has its limitations. It 
is more likely to wander at random over Scripture, 
and to substitute the thoughts and ideas of the 
teacher. It is liable to become too much of a ser- 
mon, not filled with real insight into the meaning 
of the divine truth, but overloaded with exhorta- 
tion, and with superficial applications to the sup- 
posed need of the scholar. A teacher who is a 
ready thinker is apt to depend too much on his 



112 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

extemporaneous ability to develop truth from the 
heart of the lesson, and to fail to give sufficient 
time to the exact study of the text. 

Where the teacher himself does all the talking, 
as is the case in some Bible Classes, and in other 
classes where scholars are very ignorant or unre- 
sponsive, the logical lecture method, in view of 
the shortness of the time at our command, seems 
to be almost necessary. But where there is a 
group of bright minds who can be interested in 
the study of Scripture as such, the expository or 
interpretative method is far to be preferred. 
While it lacks in the dramatic directness, and 
while it fails in that cumulative emphasis of final 
application, which comes when all streams are 
made logically tributary to one great conclusion, it 
leaves a knowledge of God's Word, which is exact 
as to facts and truths, which is a real thing, and 
not merely an emotional impression, and which 
gives the scholar an opportunity to participate in 
the development of the lesson, and which causes 
him to conclude the hour with a definite sense of 
gain, a sense of mastery of a certain part of the 
text of Scripture. True teaching presupposes 
such intimate acquaintance of scholar and teacher 
as stimulates a free interchange of thought, of 
question and answer. The teacher must address 
the mind of each individual in his class often 
enough to work off the rough bark of science and 
the outside rind of conventionality, in which real 



WHAT METHOD SHALL I ADOPT? 113 

ideas may be inwrapt and held back, where 
freedom is lacking, and must attain that stage of 
confidential intercourse with his class in which 
each gives forth without reserve his innermost 
and best ideas and feelings. 

WHAT METHOD SHALL I ADOPT? 

The First Method. — (1) Summarize the first 
method of the two ways of teaching. (2) What is 
the name of this method? (3) How does this method 
bring out the thought of the writer? (4) What is this 
method sometimes called, and why is the term un- 
fortunate? (5) Why may this method be called the 
interpretative method? (6) What is the teacher who 
faithfully uses this method of teaching? (7) State 
and explain the first limitation of this method indi- 
cated. (8) What is the limitation because of the view- 
point? (9) What further difficulty is experienced in 
the effort to make the practical applications strong 
and effective? (10) In explaining directly from the 
text upon what will much depend? (11) What may 
be said in favor of this method of teaching? 

The Second Method. — (1) What is the second 
method of teaching? (2) What does this second 
method seek to do? (3) Illustrate this method by the 
work of the preacher. (4) What privileges and op- 
portunities has he who chooses this method? (5) 
State the limitations of this way of teaching. (6) 
Under what circumstances is this method almost 
necessary? (7) In what kind of a class is the ex- 
pository method to be preferred? (8) Show what 
may be attained by this method? (9) What does true 
teaching presuppose? 



CHAPTER XIII 
How Shall I Illustrate the Lesson ? 

It would be easy to describe the process of 
teaching as "A Tour Personally Conducted." The 
chapter "How Shall I Apply the Lesson ?" would 
have been more striking if we had headed it 
"Driving the Nail Home." The present chapter 
might have been tagged as "Red Lights and 
Roman Candles." These themes are figurative, 
and they suggest the dangers connected with the 
use of striking figures in teaching. 

When your mind is naturally imaginative, as 
teaching truths flash into consciousness, or begin 
to grow there, they usually are accompanied by 
pictures of the point at issue. Perhaps you see the 
picture before you see the truth of which the pic- 
ture is the fleshly investiture. So many of these 
brilliant likenesses may rise in your mind where- 
with to illustrate the truth that they may clog the 
force of your thought or bury its flow in a wealth 
of illuminative material. This is only one of 
many dangers in the use of lights and colored 
fires. 

The teacher who illustrates * is throwing lustre 
or brightness upon thought. Or, better still, he is 

*The major part of this chapter appeared originally 
in The Sunday School Times. 

114 



HOW ILLUSTRATE THE LESSON? 115 

drawing the veil aside and encouraging the native 
light in any subject to burn brightly. To light up 
thought for other people is a more ambitious ef- 
fort than merely to state it. Failure here, conse- 
quently, is more inglorious than it is when we are 
altogether plain and modest in our method of 
conveying truth. However, we ought not 
abandon a more potent method simply because it 
is more dangerous. What we ought do is to 
keep our eyes open to the dangers that lie in the 
wake of an unskilful and careless use of illustra- 
tion and avoid them. The perils are many. The 
use of mental pictures in teaching will be a 
failure under the following circumstances: (1) 
If they are incongruous in their parts. (2) If 
they are not in point. (3) If they, though in 
point, yet rather obscure than illumine. (4) If 
they neutralize each other by sharp contrast. 
(5) If they are in poor taste. (6) If they allure 
the mind into the sphere and associations from 
which they are drawn, or attract so much atten- 
tion to themselves and take such hold on the 
imagination that the point to be illumined is lost 
sight of. (7) If they illustrate too much. (8) 
And, finally, if one stock illustration is pressed 
into service too repeatedly or made to do duty 
on all occasions. 

1 . Incongruous Illustrations. — Horace, opening 
his Ars Poetica, inquires whether you could sup- 
press your laughter if you found a would-be 



116 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

artist painting a figure with the head of a man, 
the neck of a horse, the body of a bird, and the 
tail of a fish ! Many a lesson is embellished with 
rhetorical monstrosity such as this. Perhaps your 
mind is naturally obtuse in discriminating be- 
tween similars, or the attempt, in the swiftness of 
the moment, to discriminate, may confuse you, 
and before you know it you have mingled figures 
that are very diverse and ridiculous when placed 
too close to each other. If your fancy is fertile, 
you are tempted to change the figure as often as 
a new picture pops itself up in your field of 
vision. Or it may be that you glide spontane- 
ously over from what you have been trying to 
paint, into a new image that begins to loom in 
your mind, and thus pass unconsciously from the 
neck of a horse to the wing of a swan and thence 
to the tail of a fish. You may wish, at all 
hazards, to be striking and brilliant. You put in 
a heavy dash of color on the spur of the moment 
and you reap your reward. The listeners, ever 
on the alert, are enjoying your grotesque carica- 
ture of the sublime, even as they enjoy the car- 
toons of the comic illustrated paper. Their hearts 
are hardened against the truth you bear, and 
their amusement is at your expense. 

2. Illustrations Not in Point. — There are illus- 
trations that do not illustrate. The analogies be- 
tween the general truth to be illumined and the 
special image employed to illumine it are striking 



HOW ILLUSTRATE THE LESSON? 117 

and beautiful, perhaps, but not in point. It is 
declared to be the characteristic vice of the tal- 
ented young teacher to say fine things because 
they are fine. 

3. Illustrations that Obscure and Weaken. — 
They are in point ; they are fine, but they do not 
increase the power and grandeur of the thought, 
and must detract from its simplicity. Every 
image which adds nothing but ornament or finish 
is an encumbrance. "He that gathereth not with 
me, scattereth." The bold stroke should not be 
stayed to make it graceful. The vigorous out- 
line may not be richly overlaid with effeminacy. 
"We are more gratified by the simplest words 
which can suggest the idea in its own beauty, 
than by the robe or gem which conceal while they 
decorate; we are better pleased to feel by their 
absence how little they could bestow, than by 
their presence how much they can destroy." 

4. Illustrations May Neutralize Each Other's 
Force. — Ruskin says, "Contrast increases the 
splendor of beauty, but it disturbs its influence; 
it adds to its attractiveness, but diminishes its 
power. He who endeavors to unite simplicity 
with magnificence, to guide from solitude to fes- 
tivity, and to contrast melancholy with mirth, 
must end by the production of confused inanity. 
There is a peculiar spirit possessed by every kind 
of scene; and although a point of contrast may 
sometimes enhance and exhibit this feeling more 



118 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

intensely, it must be only a point, not an equal- 
ized opposition. Every introduction of new and 
different feeling weakens the force of what has 
already been impressed. The single-minded 
thinker is reaching an end quite as high as the 
more ambitious student who is always 'within 
five minutes' walk of everywhere,' making the 
ends of the earth contribute to his pictorial 
guasetto" 

"A green field is a sight which makes us pardon 
The absence of that more sublime construction 
Which mixes up vines, olives, precipices, 
Glaciers, volcanoes, oranges, and ices." 

The speaker who flashes his truths with clouds 
of burning Greek fire in successive hues will lead 
us entranced to the spectacular of dreamland, and 
then, when the illumination evanesces, will leave 
us in darkness. So, too, he who brings out his 
dazzling series of grand electric brilliants, shock- 
ing the imagination with successive thrills of 
pleasure, is likely to be illustrating at the peril, 
greater or less, of true edification. Our aim is 
not to paralyze the hearer, but to develop him. 
Pure sunlight is the true light for our use. 

5. Illustrations That do Not Elevate. — Illustra- 
tions may degrade the truth and debase the 
hearer by their poor taste, or by suggesting to the 
imagination connections with a low, carnal, or 
worldly sphere. Illustrations are likely to be 



HOW ILLUSTRATE THE LESSON? 119 

bridges, leading the thoughts down into the more 
entertaining and less hallowed regions from 
whence they are drawn. They may bring the 
busy and the worldly world into the holy place. 
They are like the camel in the fable. It is well 
to recognize the danger of what is called popular 
speaking. Here it is. While the speaker con- 
veys the earthly illustration very vividly, either 
his intention or his powers stop there, and the 
spiritual truth is not only not conveyed as vividly, 
but is actually excluded from the soul because 
the earthly has taken such hold on the imagina- 
tion. Instead of becoming an adjunct to the 
spiritual, it has mastered the lesson, and entirely 
choked out the spiritual from the hearer's soul, 
deluding him, perhaps even as to the true nature 
of divine truth. Thus it becomes possible for 
illustrations to subvert the very purpose for 
which they were called into existence. This fea- 
ture distinguishes much of Mr. Sunday's melo- 
dramatic art. 

6. Illustrations May Illustrate Too Much. — 
Your analogy may contain a most striking point 
in one of its details which can be turned against 
your own argument with crushing effect. The 
point has escaped your observation, but the hear- 
ers apply it with relish. 

7. Finally, illustrations may be rendered ob- 
noxious by repetition. The more striking the 
image, the more rarely it should be repeated. In 



120 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

the speaker it betrays either poverty or vanity, or 
a disposition to run in ruts ; to the hearer it loses 
its force, offends his taste, and lowers his estima- 
tion of the teacher. In a teacher or preacher 
nothing scarcely is such a weariness to our flesh 
as the repetition of the same old stories and 
phrases and peculiarities. Even in the writings 
of the great masters, where the thought is inex- 
haustible, we find ourselves annoyed by their 
overfondness for this or that favorite expression. 
The danger of offense is certainly still greater 
where an average teacher appears before the 
class, Sunday after Sunday, with thought which 
has the maturity of a week and the profundity of 
a few hours' reflection. 

HOW SHALL I ILLUSTRATE THE LESSON? 

1. Indicate wherein there is danger in illustrations. 

2. What does the teacher accomplish who illustrates? 

3. Why is failure in illustration particularly in- 
glorious ? 

4. Under what circumstances will illustrative teach- 
ing fail? 

5. Point out the lesson drawn from Horace's illus- 
tration. 

6. State the mental conditions which produce various 
defects in illustration. 

7. Show how illustrations may not illustrate. 

8. When do illustrations obscure and weaken? 

9. Show how illustrations may neutralize each other. 

10. At what should we aim in illustration? 

11. When do illustrations not elevate? 



HOW ILLUSTRATE THE LESSON? 121 

12. Point out the danger of popular speaking. 

13. How may illustrations subvert the purpose for 
which they were used? 

14. When may illustrations illustrate too much? 

15. What is the effect of repetition of illustrations? 



CHAPTER XIV 
How Shall I Apply the Lesson ? 

1. Strike a sharp, clean blow. Do not bray, 
bruise, or blunt your pupil's sensibilities. Some 
teachers hammer away at their scholars, and all 
over them, until the whole soul has been beaten 
down into armor-proof imperviousness. Strong 
blows are all right when you strike the nail on its 
center, and it rides home freely under a few well- 
directed strokes. But usually the pounding 
teacher does little but hit his own fingers and 
batter the wall behind and beside the nail. Mere 
hammering hardens the soul. 

2. Do not make flourishes and go through so 
many stilted forms with your tools that the 
process becomes more striking than the result. 
Say what you say naturally, with a warm heart 
and enthusiasm, and without too much fine-spun 
explanation. The more complex the application, 
the less penetrative it will be. 

3. Do not pin a moral on your scholar's coat- 
lapel, in the hope that it will of itself soak into 
his blood and diffuse itself into his system. Most 
teachers leave the scholar to infer the application 
from a general statement of the principle under- 
lying the situation. This is the worst fault of the 
average teacher. Instead of clothing the truth 

122 



HOW SHALL I APPLY THE LESSON? 123 

with living power, instead of making its point 
sharp, instead of directing it straight into the 
personality whom you are trying to influence, 
you state a platitude, a true but perfectly dead 
truth, and think you have said all. A platitude 
is a perfectly obvious, but dead truth. It is an 
accepted statement so proper and correct and 
well-known that nobody disputes it, and every- 
body accepts it — with a yawn. It is a truth whose 
only impression is to bore you. This is perhaps 
the most common fault of the writers of our prac- 
tical applications in our lesson quarterlies. And 
the ability to drive a truth home is perhaps the 
most singular and uncommon excellency of Billy 
Sunday's preaching. Slang helps. It takes hold of 
the imagination. It causes the truth to cling to 
you as though the arrow had a barb in it. But, un- 
fortunately, the oiitlying bad effects of slang are 
so great, especially the indirect ones, that godly 
men will pause in using it as an enforcer. Slang 
can never be used without tearing a gash or 
gaping wound into devoutness and reverence. It 
always is ultimately a detractor from spirituality. 

4. Nevertheless, do not be commonplace in 
your application. Be interesting, be lucid, be 
forcible, be vivid, even be racy. A worn and 
faded precept, from a jaded teacher's mind, has 
been compared to the dull chill pattering of a 
November rain. 

5. Apply the lesson to your class as individuals, 



124 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

and not as a unit. Needs are particular. One 
ought to be stirred to hope, another ought to be 
held down by the fear of God. One is too frisky 
and needs to be steadied, another is indifferent 
and needs to be stirred. One is environed with 
temptations of luxury, another with those of pov- 
erty. One is governed by his tastes, another by 
his appetites. One takes things too seriously, 
another not seriously enough. Good medicine 
given to the wrong man becomes poison. Look 
for the symptoms in your patient, and administer 
according to his case. 

6. Do not drive too many nails. Neglect the 
petty and the incidental tacks of the lesson, and 
concentre all on that which is strongest. No 
doubt your lesson book will furnish you a great 
variety of materials. Nine-tenths of them are 
intended for your wastebasket. You cannot sew 
with a dozen needles at the same time. The 
dozen are there in order that you may select the 
one best suited to the purpose in hand, and the 
one that most corresponds with the materials 
which you are using. If you spread your lessons 
over all creation, they will become diffuse and 
evaporate like the morning mist. Your appeal 
should be alive and beat with the very soul of 
the lesson. 

7. Do not indulge in the exclamatory or the ex- 
hortatory style. You will become accustomed to 
it, and the effect on the hearts of your pupils will 



HOW SHALL I APPLY THE LESSON? 125 

amount to nothing. Many a minister's sermon is 
spoiled because there is no practical appeal what- 
ever in it, but many more sermons are spoiled be- 
cause of the excess of exhortation and appeal 
that they contain. 

8. Do not try to bring tears to the eyes of your 
scholars, and then stop. That is the vice of the 
theater. It excites to laughter and to weeping, 
and after the curtain is finally drawn the folks 
go out and dismiss the subject. When your 
scholar is moved by the truth you have to pre- 
sent, there should be no rest in your soul until 
the emotional energy thus aroused within him is 
put to a proper purpose, and until he sets to do- 
ing that which is necessary in his particular case, 
whether it be a case of repentance, of gratitude, 
or of desire for the Master's Kingdom. Both 
the Roman Catholic and the Methodist churches 
understand human nature. They have long ago 
provided a ready-made method by which the emo- 
tional energy awakened by truth can be set to the 
reaching of practical results. We cannot set 
ready-made mechanical methods, but we must 
seek a personal and spiritual method. The trans- 
mutation of religious energy into genuine reli- 
gious habit is one of the great arts of teaching. 

9. Remember the gnarled fibres, the solid 
knots, and the crooked grains into which your 
nail will strike. Unless you know, they will turn 
your point and bend the nail. Some of your 



126 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

scholars are congealed fossils. There are the 
confessedly worldly, who are devoid of the first 
rudiments of a living repentance and faith. 
There are the formalists, who see no good ex- 
cept in the outward deed, and there are unbal- 
anced emotionalists who luxuriate in the riot of 
passion. 

10. Do not encourage an excess of religious ex- 
citement in your school. A red-hot spike may 
burn its way into the soul, but it will char and 
sear the surrounding fiber. Every great gather- 
ing of people calls out the primal gregarian in- 
stincts of mankind and tends to become a mob. 
Religious excitement is no exception to the rule. 
Feeling is contagious in great assemblies. It is a 
blind instinct and not to be trusted. 

11. A story, if it be the right one, will give 
swiftness and life to your stroke. But if it be the 
wrong one, it will dissipate instead of converging 
the truth, and destroy your whole effort. The 
main point of the story must be identical with the 
main point of the lesson, and it must be the one 
point which you emphasize. Your central point 
must be self-evident and pre-eminent in the story. 
This central point must be more interesting than 
any of the incidentals in the story, and it must 
fly, as the arrow flies, swift and straight. 

12. The telling use of a brief and pithy Scrip- 
ture passage, a passage that will stick fast in the 
mind, that affords food for thought, and stirs the 



HOW SHALL I APPLY THE LESSON? 127 

soul, that will present itself unbidden again and 
again in the thought of the scholar, and the force 
of whose truth the scholar knows, feels ever 
anew, is one of the most effective of all methods 
of closing a practical application. 

Intelligent practice is all you need. You need 
not be a graduate in psychology to be able to 
drive the nail home. We do not think of asking 
astronomers, biologists, ornithologists, or even 
solitaire-diamond soloists to fasten pictures on 
our parlor wall or to pierce, for a hinge-screen, 
our precious mahogany heirlooms. Let us send 
around the corner for a skilled mechanic. And 
if we cannot secure him— why, an apprentice is 
better — with his hatchet — than an astronomer! 

The successful teacher is an artisan. He need 
not be a learned scientist. 

HOW SHALL I APPLY THE LESSON? 

1. Application Must Be Direct and Skilful. 

2. Application Must Not Be Involved or Rhetorical. 

3. Application Is Not a Mere Statement of the 
Truth Underlying the Lesson. 

4. Commonplace Should Be Avoided. 

5. Applications Should Be Individualized. 

6. Variety of Application Is Desirable for Selec- 
tion, but Not for Use. 

7. Exhortation and Exhaustive Exclamation Are to 
be Avoided. 

8. Emotions Should Not be Stirred for Their Own 
Sake. 

9. Pupils That Do Not Respond. 



128 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

10. The Dangers of Intensity. 

11. The Value of the Story in an Application. 

12. The Use of Scripture in the Application. 

13. Teaching Is an Art, Not a Science. 



CHAPTER XV 

Value of the Question Method 

We have treated two methods of teaching: 
First, the expository method — that is, explaining 
the text as you go along; second, the logical or 
lecture method — that is, presenting the main truth 
in its organic relations. But there is a third and 
more effective method, without the use of which, 
in conjunction with the other two methods, there 
is no real teaching. This third method is that of 
questioning. The expository method throws light 
in detail. The lecture method leaves a unified 
impression, but the question method compels the 
scholar to get busy and form his own judgment 
on the facts and truths. It thus permanently 
fixes and establishes knowledge. In all other 
methods the scholar is merely a listener and his 
mind may remain passive. In the question 
method the scholar becomes an active participant 
and divides the work and reaps the result jointly 
with the teacher. 

aversion to the question method 
It is surprising that the active and practical 
American mind, which always wants to do things 
for itself and in its own way; which claims lib- 
erty for itself, and which desires independence 

129 



130 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

of authority, is so averse to the use of the ques- 
tioning method in Sunday-School work. Part of 
this average unwillingness on the part of the 
scholar to participate with the teacher, for his 
own benefit, in the work of the lesson is due to 
the teacher's lack of skill in the use of questions. 
The average teacher does not really know how to 
use his sharpest, most clean-cut, and most ef- 
fective tool. The story is told of a teacher ask- 
ing her class, "What must we do before our sins 
can be forgiven ?" and of the entirely correct but 
inapposite reply of a little girl, "We must sin 
first." This is a sample of much of the clumsi- 
ness and ineffectiveness of the use of the ques- 
tioning method in Sunday-School. 

Another part of the scholar's unwillingness to 
engage in questioning is due to his general view 
of Sunday-School lessons, a view which does not 
take the acquisition of spiritual knowledge seri- 
ously, and does not set a real value on it. A third 
reason, perhaps, why the scholar is indisposed 
to answer is that he has been brought up to regard 
passivity as the normal attitude in religious life. 
To sit still and listen to sermons, to sit still and 
listen to the singing of others in worship, to sit 
still and be mentally indolent under the receiving 
of spiritual advice has become a regular habit in 
American religious life. 

Still another reason for this aversion is to be 
found in the indolence of the scholar, in his lack 



VALUE OF THE QUESTION METHOD 131 

of interest in the subject, in his merely tolerating 
the teaching of the teacher as something that tra- 
dition, and the home, and the Church have im- 
posed on him, and to which he submits as a mat- 
ter of form, although he does not feel any par- 
ticular concern in it. But perhaps the chief rea- 
son why a scholar is averse to being questioned, 
even when there is no natural timidity on his part 
in engaging in general conversation on spiritual 
subjects with his teacher, is his dense ignorance 
of the subject matter under discussion. He shies 
off from a direct question addressed to him per- 
sonally because he feels his lack of fitness and 
unpreparedness to take any intelligent hold on 
the thought that is before the class, and because 
he is disinclined if not ashamed to display his ig- 
norance before the teacher and the other pupils. 
All these points of view contribute to an estab- 
lished attitude or spirit in the school, and cannot 
be gotten rid of by any single zealous teacher of 
a class, because the general tone of the school is 
such that the scholar regards the intrusion of 
personal questions by the teacher as something 
not altogether warranted in the situation and as 
an act of impertinence. There are scholars who 
will go so far as to stay away from school if they 
know that their teacher is going to use the direct 
question method in the impartation of the lesson. 
The remedy here lies in changing the general 
viewpoint of the school. And for this change of 



132 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

viewpoint the superintendent, the pastor himself, 
the parents, and the more serious and intelligent- 
minded older scholars are responsible. There 
should be a combined effort on the part of all 
who are interested in the welfare of the school to 
change this viewpoint, and to have the scholar, 
from the Primary Department up to the Senior, 
regard the question period as the most delightful, 
the most natural, and the most necessary part of 
the exercises of the school. 

It is true that a teacher with great gifts, with 
a power of awakening and sustaining interest in 
the subject, and with the trained ability of a nat- 
ural cross-examiner can do much to overcome the 
general inertia and the baleful points of view 
which have settled down into an established tra- 
dition of Sunday-School life. But even such a 
teacher will constantly be laboring under a handi- 
cap. The atmosphere is against solitary effort. 
And it is not fair to the teacher or the work, to 
expect or to allow one single teacher to battle 
unaided against these difficulties which consti- 
tute an almost controlling feature of the general 
viewpoint of the school. 

THE VALUE OF A QUESTION 

To ask a question is to set the wheels of the 
scholar's mind working. To ask a question is to 
individualize the scholar. To ask a question is 
to expose the scholar's ignorance to his own con- 



VALUE OF THE QUESTION METHOD 133 

sciousness. To ask a question is to penetrate to 
the scholar's soul. To ask a question is, if the 
matter be pursued properly to the goal, to banish 
fog and confusion. To ask a question is to 
awaken in the mind and spirit of the scholar a 
personal reaction to the truth. To ask a question 
is to put responsibility on the scholar and to com- 
pel him to use his judgment and decide for him- 
self. To ask a question is to turn mere religious 
ideas into actual reality in the mind of the one 
that is being taught. To ask a question is to 
bring the scholar to bay and to make him struggle 
and fight for a foothold in his own intellectual 
and spiritual life, and thus to give him an abid- 
ing strength and sense of security. To ask a 
question in respect to any truth or fact is to 
make an indelible impression, to give the scholar 
a living principle of action, and to send him forth 
as a convinced and living witness to that concern- 
ing which he has been taught. 

To fail to ask a question is to fail to bring the 
lesson into the court of reality. It is to fail in 
establishing truth in the heart of the scholar. It 
is to fail to make him a live and acting person- 
ality in the sphere and under the power of the 
truth which is to be conveyed. To fail to ask a 
question is, in fact, to be superficial in one's 
teaching. A teacher who moves on smoothly and 
expeditiously through the lesson, without seeking 
any individual reaction on the part of his 



134 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

scholars, may be compared to a powerful locomo- 
tive drawing a whole train of cars after him. 
The motive power he applies is sufficient to keep 
the whole train in action and to bring it to its 
destination. But when the cars have reached 
their destination, and each of them is uncoupled 
from the engine, it remains a lifeless and help- 
less thing, on the siding on which it has been 
placed, incapable of making further progress 
until it again is linked up and drawn forward 
under the impetus of an extraneous motive 
power. 

But a teacher who asks questions is not a 
leader who draws a long chain of inert units 
after him in the sweep of his own strength, but 
is a dynamo that puts motive power and life and 
activity into each of the cars that, coupled to- 
gether, constitute his class, and renders each of 
them capable of mental and spiritual activity on 
their own account, in their own environment, and 
for a triumphant progress out of their own 
ignorance, inertia, and difficulties. 

Usually it is best to weave question-and-an- 
swer teaching in as a part of one of the more 
positive methods. If possible, the teacher should 
drop formality, and his questions should spring 
out of the presentation as it stirs the natural im- 
pulse of the soul. Questioning may give rise to 
animated argument and discussion. It was one 
of the favorite rabbinic devices, and was used by 



VALUE OF THE QUESTION METHOD 135 

the Pharisees and Sadducees in their attempt to 
entrap the Saviour, who also employed it most 
effectively by way of counterstroke. 

It is particularly useful in the cases of minds 
that do not so much need the impartation, as the 
examination of truth, the removal of error, and 
the awakening of a spirit of action. 

All questioning implies some previous degree 
of growth. It is foolish for any teacher to ex- 
pect to pluck fruit from boughs when as yet the 
tree has not been planted. Questions in the re- 
ligious instruction of young and growing minds 
should follow faith, and not precede it. The use 
of the critical method implies doubt, and unless 
the mind has some anchorage to stand by, be- 
comes destructive, or confusing, or induces a 
non-committal tendency. This is a positive in- 
jury to the young and immature mind. 

Trees and vines require pruning, but we do 
not begin to prune when as yet they are but seeds. 
Nor do we go forth into the vineyard every day 
of the year with pruning hooks. Once or twice 
a season will suffice. It is strange that many up- 
to-date teachers under the influence of the critical 
method do not see that growing is as essential 
as pruning; that pruning must follow in the 
wake of growing; that no shoot should be cut 
back so far as to lame its life; and that the most 
essential elements of immature development are 
plenty of food in the earth beneath, and air and 



136 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

sunshine in the atmosphere above. To introduce 
a knife prematurely into the process of absorp- 
tion and assimilation is death. 

But when truth has acquired sufficient matur- 
ity, no process is so beneficial to its firmer estab- 
lishment as relentless and continued questioning. 
An extraordinary degree of skill is required for 
this, with a foresight of a long series of possi- 
bilities, and often a start far away from the desti- 
nation to be aimed at. Truth established through 
this severe process of cross-examination will 
abide. 

To cross-question a scholar until he sees the 
true light dawn, has its dangers. Unless both 
teacher and scholar possess a large stock of pa- 
tience and good will, temperamental injury and 
irritation may be induced before the result is 
reached. Nevertheless the testing of knowledge 
implanted, and after it has become sufficiently 
ripened and sturdy, through the instrumentality 
of the question, whether by public or private re- 
view, whether for a firmer hold of mechanical 
elements, for a probing in the case of weaknesses 
in the spiritual life, or for a reassurance of the 
soul's faith, is very valuable. 

THE EFFECT OF A QUESTION 

To ask a question is, first, to throw a scholar 
back on his own inner experience. The experi- 
ence you are trying to tap may be that of appro- 



VALUE OF THE QUESTION METHOD 137 

priated truth, or that of actual life. Second, if 
your question is as to knowledge new and re- 
cently gained, it is to compel the scholar to trans- 
fuse his recent gains into the general framework 
of his own individuality and consciousness, and 
thus reproduce his own view and judgment, how- 
ever crudely, in response to skilful tests made by 
the teacher. You thus put the scholar's own ex- 
perience and knowledge into action. It responds 
to your call. Third, you compel him to focus 
what he may have gained in instruction, and 
formulate it for practical use. Hence, in the 
fourth place, to ask a question is to teach and 
enable him to apply his theory to any situation 
with which he may be confronted. It results in 
not merely storing knowledge, but organizing it 
and rendering it vital in such a way that he can 
draw upon it, from the viewpoint of his own 
inner life and judgment, whenever he comes to 
need it. The mere possession of knowledge by 
the mind is a useless and misleading thing. We 
need the ability to turn and apply one's spiritual 
possessions. It is this that makes a man a man ; 
that clothes his convictions with value for him- 
self and others, and that creates an active per- 
sonal force in the interests of the kingdom of 
God. 

VALUE OF THE QUESTION METHOD 

1. Need of Probing for the Truth. 

2. Aversion to the Question Method. 



138 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

3. A Question Sets the Scholar's Mind Working, 
Exposes His Ignorance, Turns Ideas Into Reality, 
Makes an Indelible Impression. 

4. Question Should Be Combined With One of the 
More Positive Methods. 

5. The Uses and Dangers of Cross-Questioning. 

6. The Effect of a Question. — (1) What is the first 
effect of a question? (2) If the question pertains to 
recent knowledge, what does it compel? (3) In his 
responding, what is the scholar compelled to do? (4) 
What does questioning force the pupil to do with the 
knowledge stored? (5) What, beyond mere posses- 
sion, clothes knowledge with value? 



CHAPTER XVI 

How Shall I Use Questions ? 

The great problem is, How to so question the 
scholar that the results aimed at in the last chap- 
ter may be attained. Every main question, to 
be successful, must have a threefold quality : first, 
it must awaken and sustain interest in the sub- 
ject; second, it must be so clear, definite, and im- 
portant that the active mind of the scholar, how- 
ever primitive that mind be, will recognize its 
importance and significance; third, it must be so 
spiritually searching that the scholar will be un- 
able to evade the responsibility of forming and 
uttering a true and personal judgment on the 
matter in question. 

In order to cover this important field more 
completely, we shall lay out the purpose of the 
interrogatory method as sevenfold, and, for con- 
venience, shall sum the matter up in 

SEVEN LAWS OF QUESTIONING 

These seven purposes, with their correspond- 
ing laws, are as follows : 

1. To Awaken Thought. 

2. To Speed Up and Gain Momentum. 

3. To Shed Light. 

139 



140 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

4. To Introduce Life. 

5. To Secure Accuracy. 

6. To Sustain Interest. 

7. To Make Things Personal. 

i. Awakening Thought 

("Point of Contact") 
THE FIRST LAW OF QUESTIONING 

To awaken thought, the question must either 
appeal to ideas which the scholar may already 
possess, whether right or wrong, concerning the 
truth to be taught ; or it must be so framed as to 
cause him to feel the need of more knowledge on 
the subject, and thus arouse his desire, and give 
him a strong motive to search matters and to put 
forth such answer, or such a query, or such a 
confession, as will lead to the opening up of the 
knowledge which he esteems important. 

The first point for the teacher to consider, in 
the awakening of interest by a question, is what 
is technically termed "the point of contact." In 
other words, your question must touch the 
scholar's mind at that particular spot at which it 
is fitted most naturally to respond to the subject 
in hand. Hence, to be successful in asking ques- 
tions, you cannot follow the order of your own 
mind. Often you cannot follow a logical order. 
Often you must be prepared to question into 
ignorance, or into perverted knowledge, rather 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 141 

than to proceed on the basis that the scholar pos- 
sesses even a rudimentary sound knowledge. In 
other words, your questions must follow the 
natural lead of the scholar's mind. A question is 
like a fisherman's bait on a hook. If it does not 
appeal to the particular fish he is seeking to 
catch, the fish will not be attracted. He will not 
even nibble at the bait. Your question will fall 
dead on the scholar's heart. The successful bait 
may not be such as you think you ought to pro- 
vide. The real problem is not "What question 
ought logically be asked?" but "What question 
will catch the interest of the scholar's mind, will 
reach actively into his viewpoint, will elicit a 
spontaneous response ?" 

AN ILLUSTRATION 

Some years ago the International Lesson Series 
taught a lesson on "The Prayer of the Penitent" 
as found in the Fifty-First Psalm, and a series 
of questions and answers on this somewhat diffi- 
cult subject for children was published, and has 
been repeated by Prof. Adams in his little work 
on Teaching, which throws a good deal of light 
on our first problem in the asking of questions, 
viz. : getting the point of contact ; and we give it 
here, as follows, because of its suggestiveness : 
After the Psalm (51 :1-13) has been read: 
"Was this Psalm we have just read written by 
a man or by God ?" 



142 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

"By a man." 

" What sort of a man do you think he was ?" 

Three or four think he was a "good" man ; one 
thinks he was a "dirty" man. 

"We'll take the 'dirty' man first. What makes 
you think he was dirty?" 

"It says he was going to wash him clean." 

"Who was going to wash him clean?" 

(Some hesitation — then "God" and "Jesus" 
are ventured.) 

"Quite right. God was going to wash him 
clean. But what part of him was dirty?" (No 
answer. ) 

"Had he a dirty face, do you think?" 

"No, sir." 

"Dirty hands, then?" 

"No, sir." 

"Look in your Bibles, at verse 10, and see if 
you can find out what God was going to clean." 

"His heart." 

"Yes. Notice verse 6: Where does God want 
to find truth?" 

"In the inward parts." 

"So the man that wrote this Psalm was not a 
dirty man on the outside, like a sweep or a coal 
man, was he?" 

"No, sir." 

"But only a man whose heart needed clean- 



ing?' 



"Yes, sir." 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 143 

"But some of you said he was a good man, 
didn't you?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Well, does a good man's heart need clean- 
ing?" 

"No, sir." 

"He says, 'I acknowledge my transgressions.' 
What are transgressions?" 

"Sins." 

"So the man has sinned, hasn't he?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Had he just one sin, or had he a lot of sins ?" 

(Some hesitation.) 

"Does it say 'transgression' or 'transgres- 
sions'?" 

"Transgressions." 

"And transgressions just mean sins, don't 
they?" 

"Yes, sir." 

" 'And blot out all mine iniquities.' What are 
iniquities ?" 

"Sins." 

"Then 'all mine iniquities' means that he had 
done quite a lot of sins?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Then is a man who has done a lot of sins, and 
has a heart that needs cleaning, a good man ?" 

"No, sir." 

"What sort of a man is he then?" 

"A bad man." 



144 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

"Oh, a bad man, is he? Now, turn to the be- 
ginning of the Psalm, and see the man's name 
that wrote it. You will see it in the small print 
at the top. What is it?" 

"David." 

"Is David speaking to himself in this Psalm, 
or to some other body ?" 

"To some other body." 

"Who is he speaking to? You will see it in 
the first verse." 

"To God." 

"When you speak to God, what are you said to 
do?" 

(Hesitation.) 

"Well, when do you speak to God?" 

("At night" and "when you're praying.") 

"David is asking something of God, isn't he?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"And when you ask something from God what 
are you doing?" 

"Praying." 

"And what sort of people pray — good people 
or bad people ?" 

"Good people." 

"Oh, then David is a good man, is he?" 

(Puzzled hesitation of the children.) 

"David is bad because he has done many sins, 
and has an unclean heart, and yet he is good be- 
cause he is praying to God. Can a man be both 
good and bad?" 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 145 

(An uncompromising "No.") 

"Well, let's see. When a blacksmith comes 
home from his work is he clean or dirty?" 

"Dirty." 

"But after he has washed himself and sits 
down to eat his supper and read his newspaper, 
is he still dirty?" 

"No, sir." 

"Is he clean now ?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"And is he the same man as he was when he 
came in?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"So the same man can be both clean and 
dirty?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"At the same time?" 

"No, sir." 

"But he can be dirty at one time and clean at 
another ?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Now, what makes the dirty man into the clean 
man?" 

"Washing." 

"And what did David want God to do with his 
heart ?" 

("Wash it." "Make it clean.") 

"Are we told in this Psalm that God washed 
it?" 

(Opposing answers — "Yes," and "No.") 



146 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

"Well, can God do anything He wishes to do ?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Do you think He wishes men to have unclean 
hearts ?" 

"No, sir." 

"Then, will he wish to clean David's heart?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"And he can do anything he wishes?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Then, as soon as David wants God to wash his 
heart, God will do it at once, won't he ?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"How long do you think it will take God to 
wash David's heart?" 

("At once," "Quickly," and "Immediately.") 

"How long will the blacksmith take to wash 
himself?" 

("Five minutes." "Ten minutes," ventured.) 

"Will God need as long as that?" 

"No, sir." 

"God does not need any time at all, does he ?" 

"No, sir." 

"Then just as soon as David prayed, he was 
cleansed, and so was at once a good man?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Though he had done lots of sins, and used to 
have an unclean heart?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Then are there any bad men ?" 

(An astonished "Yes, sir.") 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 147 

"How do you know they are bad?" 

"Because they do bad things." 

"But I thought David did bad things?" 

"But God washed David." 

"And can he not wash these bad men, too ?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Then why are they still bad?" 

"Because they do not pray." 

"God does not wash everybody, then?" 

"No, sir." 

"Only those that ask Him to wash them?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"What makes them ask Him to wash them ?" 

(No answer.) 

"Well, what makes the smith wash himself?" 

("Because he feels dirty." "Because it would 
dirty his meat.") 

"If the blacksmith liked to be dirty, would he 
go and wash himself?" 

"No, sir." 

"Would the water come and wash him ?" 

"No, sir." 

"Then he washes himself because he likes to be 
clean ?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"And he washes himself because he does not 
like to be dirty?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"And if he wants to be washed, he can be 
washed at once?" 



148 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

"Yes, sir." 

'Then if a man's heart is unclean, it is because 
he likes it to be unclean?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"And if he wanted a clean heart he could get 
it at once?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"So a bad man is one whose heart is unclean, 
and who likes it to be unclean ?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"And if he gets tired of his unclean heart, he 
can get it cleaned at once ?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"So, if his heart still stays unclean, whose fault 
is it?" 

"His own." 

"And if penitent means that you are sorry for 
your sins, and will try not to sin any more, would 
you call a bad man penitent?" 

"No, sir." 

"And if a bad man became penitent he would 
at once stop being a bad man?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"And become a good man?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Was David ever a bad man?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Is he penitent in this Psalm ?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Then he becomes a good man ?" 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 149 

"Yes, sir." 

"And 'penitent' means that he was sorry for 
his sin, and had made up his mind never to sin 
any more?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Then what we have to do, if we have done 
lots of sins like David, and have unclean hearts, 
is to be penitent like David?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Then, like David, what shall we become ?" 

"Clean and good." 

AN ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN POINTS IN THIS ILLUS- 
TRATION 

Please notice that this questioning is very 
elaborate, and consumes much time, so that many 
details of the Psalm will remain untouched. It 
fixes only a single point, but it fixes that one point 
vitally. And that one point is the central spir- 
itual truth of the lesson. Notice that the teacher 
is master of that one central point, and aims for 
it at the very start of the lesson, and will not stop 
or be diverted until he has established it. 

Notice also that the teacher starts, not with a 
story, nor with the statement of a spiritual truth, 
but by an immediate reversion to the physical 
knowledge of the child (as he is unable to pre- 
sume in the child a spiritual knowledge), and thus 
establishes the natural and vital point of contact 
between the scholars' mind and the heart of the 



150 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

lesson. Notice how he plunges on to the goal, 
always resourceful, because he knows both the 
lesson and the pupils, and thus is able to over- 
come the dangerous turns of difficulty and con- 
fusion in which his method may unexpectedly 
land him. The teacher has a firm grip on his 
subject, knows what to do, thinks two or three 
steps ahead of the pupil, is prepared for the ap- 
pearance of the unexpected in the pupil's replies, 
uses them bravely, steers through the currents 
of ignorance and confusion, and finally lands the 
scholar in a clear and culminating conviction. 

DANGERS IN ASKING A QUESTION 

The dangers in this work are, first, an embar- 
rassment in the teacher's mind, which may arise 
from unexpected and infelicitous answer by 
some pupil; second, the temptation which some 
smart and cunning pupil may fall into, of pro- 
pounding a reply which will throw the whole 
procedure into a ludicrous light ; and, third, the 
intricacy of detail which may come out in a lively 
class, now deeply interested, and which may 
cause the teacher to lose hold on or miss the 
thread or clue which he must firmly pursue to 
bring the class successfully to the goal. But a 
teacher who has the main matter firmly in mind, 
and who will not be deterred, will easily learn 
how to become and to remain master of the situa- 
tion. His resourcefulness will increase with prac- 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 151 

tice. He will become skilful, just as does the 
fisherman, who knows the habits of the fish he is 
handling, and the very difficulties of the enter- 
prise will only add to the joys of victory. How 
spiritual and effective is this questioning in com- 
parison with the usual desultory and mechanical 
method, which takes no account of the first great 
law of questioning, viz., starting from the point 
of contact. 

AWAKENING THE SCHOLAR 

How to Question.— (1) What is the great question 
as to questioning? (2) State the three-fold quality of 
a successful question. 

How to Awaken Thought. — (1) What elements are 
essential in a question that it may awaken thought? 

(2) What is the "point of contact" in questioning? 

(3) To awaken interest, what leads must you follow 
and what must you not follow? (4) State and elab- 
orate the illustration cited from Prof. Adams. (5) 
Analyze the main points of this illustration. 

Dangers in Asking a Question. — (1) What may 
occasion embarrassment in the teacher's mind? (2) 
What temptation is there for smart and cunning pu- 
pils? (3) What danger is found in the intricacy of 
detail which an interested class may attempt to bring 
out? (4) What will be the aim of the teacher who 
has the main matter firmly in mind? 

2. Momentum 

THE SECOND LAW OF QUESTIONING 

The first law of questioning presumes a previ- 



152 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

cms and thorough mastery of the main truth of 
the lesson by the questioner. It also presumes 
that he has found the point of contact between 
the lesson and the pupil, and will begin the ques- 
tioning process right there. 

THE LAW OF MOMENTUM 

The second law of questioning is the law of 
momentum. There must be a sufficiently rapid 
rate of progress. There must be vivacity. The 
teacher must have a love for his work, and must 
throw his soul into it, otherwise it will be 
drudgery and will be poorly done. Let us banish 
the dreadful drudgery of mechanical questioning. 
Let us put aside the treadmill system of ques- 
tions, prepared by somebody else, and that does 
not fit our thought and our class. Such printed 
questions are suggestive in the study of the les- 
son, but not regulative for its teaching except 
where question and answer are to be committed 
to memory. 

With a thorough knowledge of the lesson ma- 
terial, an establishment of the point of contact, 
and a heart for the work of teaching, even though 
the usual utterances of the teacher be somewhat 
clumsy and halting, he will soon overcome the 
failing, and will astonish himself by the rapid 
leaps and glides of thought which he finds him- 
self taking. The subject will take on life and 
movement. 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 153 
QUESTIONING A BIBLE CLASS 

Under the first law we selected our illustration 
of the questioning process from a teacher of 
small boys. In this treatment of the second law 
of teaching, we shall take our illustration from 
Mr. F. W. Hall, a lawyer of Madison, Wisconsin, 
who years ago conducted a Bible Class of about 
one hundred people, largely students of the Uni- 
versity. Mr. Hall says, "Vivacity is absolutely 
essential if one is to hold the attention and in- 
terest of the pupils. Everything must move on 
with a certain rapidity. If questions are to be 
asked, they should be asked quickly, and should 
be answered as quickly; and if they cannot be 
answered by one, they should be passed rapidly 
to another." 

It may be wise to caution the teacher not to be 
a mere rapid-fire gun, throwing out a hundred 
ideas a minute, and giving the pupil no time to 
focus his thought on the answer. Mr. Hall means 
that the flow of questioning should be fresh, easy, 
progressive, and lively, but not so brilliant and 
rapid in sequence as to distract and dazzle the 
mind that listens and is obliged to accommodate 
itself to the process. The pupil will not think 
along a line of thought which you have mapped 
out and are familiar with as rapidly as you are 
thinking. You must give him time to consider, 
and allow him to travel at his own natural pace. 

Mr. Hall's idea is that a self-connecting and 



154 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

rapid, not to say thrilling, flow of questions will 
preserve the interest of teacher and scholar and 
will rivet the attention of all. Mr. Hall admits 
that such a method requires skill and intelligent 
practice. As a lawyer he knows that cross-ex- 
amination is the most difficult part of his profes- 
sional art. He says, "It is easy to ask questions 
which anybody can answer. It is easy to ask 
questions which nobody can answer. It is easy 
to ask questions which have no relation to each 
other. It is, unfortunately, easy to ask questions 
which ought never to be asked and never to be 
answered." 

On the other hand, he also admits that it is not 
easy to give such definite directions for the ask- 
ing of questions as will assure success. How- 
ever, he illustrates his own method for us. He 
says, "I first try to fix in mind what appears to 
be the central truth contained in the lesson itself. 
I seek for the most important statement of under- 
lying principle, or some fact which holds an im- 
portant and spiritual truth, and then try to shape 
my questions in such a way that this truth will 
be developed until it stands clearly before the 
minds of the students." It will be noticed that 
this is exactly what was done by the teacher who 
asked the questions on the 51st Psalm, in pre- 
vious discussion. 

The truth which is in the mind of the teacher, 
and which he is seeking to make real and to bring 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 155 

into shape in the mind of the scholar, according 
to Mr. Hall, may be an obvious one. If it is 
such, and is important, his advice is to so develop 
it by questions that its importance will dawn on 
the pupil in an emotional way, so that it becomes 
vitalized in his soul. The questions are to be put 
in such living sequence that, step by step, they 
awaken increasing interest and thoughtfulness. 

Mr. Hall illustrates his method by applying it 
to the passage in I Samuel which describes Saul's 
rejection as king. He first finds the most im- 
portant spiritual lesson in the passage, which is 
that God rejects the disobedient. He also as- 
sumes that there is to be found in the lesson the 
problem of reconciling God's mercy with the 
terrible command to utterly destroy a nation from 
the face of the earth. He further assumes that 
the Bible Class teacher has in mind a definite idea 
of God as a person, like the Lord Jesus, Who 
must reveal Himself through the universal forces 
commonly called the laws of nature; and that 
while Samuel the prophet reveals God as acting 
directly, yet the onlooker sees only the ordinary 
operation of natural forces. The teacher, having 
these thoughts in mind, but not stated, proceeds 
to question as follows : 

What was God's command to Saul? 

Was this a cruel command? 

Do you believe that God ever gave such a 
command ? 



156 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

Do you believe that our Lord Jesus would ever 
have ordered the extermination of a nation? 

Mr. Hall draws attention to the fact that the 
foregoing questions may be answered in any way, 
and the answers will not affect the final result. 
The questions will be a test of each individual's 
attitude only, and will not determine the actual 
underlying principles. Their purpose is to arouse 
attention and stimulate thought for the presenta- 
tion of the real issues, which he develops as fol- 
lows: 

Did Saul believe in any God? 

Did he believe that God had actually given 
such a command? 

Is he at least so represented by the author of 
the Scripture? 

Did Saul, in sparing Agag and the spoil, believe 
that he was disobeying his God and a divine 
command ? 

Was this supposed divine command Saul's 
highest understanding of right and wrong? 

What is the effect upon character for a man to 
disobey the command of the power which he 
actually believes in as divine? 

Is Saul represented as acting conscientiously? 

Is deterioration of character resulting from the 
violation of conscience a natural law? What is 
the effect of deterioration of character upon a 
ruler's power to retain his sovereignty ? 

Is the author of the sacred record presenting 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 157 

the case of God's dealing with Saul, or of God's 
dealing with Amalek? 

Is God's rejection of Saul, as here represented, 
in conformity with universal principles ? 

Is it in conformity with principles enunciated 
by our Saviour? 

Is it not true, then, that Saul's rejection is in 
conformity with what we might expect from a 
personality like the Lord Jesus Christ, manifest- 
ing Himself through universal laws in history 
called the laws of nature ? 

Will the rule as to the deterioration of per- 
sonal character apply to the deterioration of na- 
tional cltaracterf 

What is the effect upon national power of 
moral deterioration of character? 

May not Amalek's national weakness in the 
presence of even Saul's army have been depend- 
ent upon moral deterioration? 

Has national decadence and loss of political 
power been attended, in the history of the race, 
with growth or decline of moral powers ? 

Has not God's law, as revealed in nature and 
in actual historical experience, been the sudden 
or gradual rejection of moral degenerates from 
possession of power to rule ? 

"Now," says Mr. Hall, "we have reached the 
opportunity for pertinent and forcible applica- 
tion. Every one has a kingdom. Every one re- 
ceives it subject to the universal law of obedience, 



158 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

Every moral violation of the law of conscience, 
as well as every violation of physical law in the 
material world, takes something away from our 
power to rule. To obey is the universal lan- 
guage of God, of nature, of the Scripture, and 
of experience; and rejection and death the pen- 
alty of disobedience. 

"Samuel's splendid sentence, 'To obey is better 
than sacrifice,' becomes a glittering beacon of 
safety; and his sentence, 'Because thou hast re- 
jected the Word of the Lord, He hath also re- 
jected thee from being king,' becomes the enunci- 
ation of a universal principle as certain and pow- 
erful as the law of gravitation. The Old Testa- 
ment becomes thus a constant statement and re- 
statement of resulting loss as the effect of dis- 
obedience to our own personal conscience — a rec- 
ord in which God always stands with conscience. 
Character in its rise and fall is distinguished by 
its holding fast the principle of obedience to our 
inward sense of highest right." 

SOME COMMENTS 

Mr. Hall knows that every lesson will take on 
a shape of its own, and may tend to run away 
from the questioner, but he must never allow 
himself to be led from his own conception of it. 
He must, as it were, compel the answers to go 
back to the right channel, changing the form of 
his question, one after the other, until the right 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 159 

answer comes as a logical necessity. "Some can 
see it at once, others may not see; but as their 
attention is gradually drawn to it more and more, 
the real purpose of the lesson, as the teacher has 
conceived it, will stand out with energy, vigor, 
and, above all, with an emotional power which is 
the main object and purpose of the lesson work." 

Mr. Hall very emphatically states that the 
teacher must have an unconscious and solid 
foundation for his work in his own faith. He 
"must necessarily have a clear conception of his 
own theoretical, dogmatic beliefs, and must not 
hesitate to put them forward, from time to time, 
in a way which will be of value. If the teacher 
has no faith, he should be frank enough to say 
so ; but such a teacher is generally of little value. 
If he has faith, as to the Word and power of the 
living God, as to the certitude of eternal life, as 
to the divinity of Christ's revelation, of inspira- 
tion, of the miracle, he should not hesitate to 
teach it." 

The illustration we have selected from Mr. 
Hall is intended for mature minds, and teachers 
who are not able to use a questioning method 
which runs along this lofty level, should not 
despair. Let them find their own level, their own 
understanding of the truth, and let them prepare 
their question thoughts along their own lines. 
The great point is that they know clearly in ad- 
vance what they are after as an end. The great 



160 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

point is that at every stage they know what they 
are doing as a means to that end. With experi- 
ence, the teacher will become cool, unperturbed, 
far sighted, and yet keenly alive to every inci- 
dental contact near at hand. 

We have pointed out various lessons from Mr. 
Hall's illustration. But the main point is this, 
that in spite of the burden of history and of ab- 
stract natural law, which Mr. Hall was carrying, 
he was able to gain and maintain momentum on 
his path by the constant and skilful use of ques- 
tions. 

The teacher who is a live questioner is, so to 
say, in a step-by-step struggle with all the intel- 
lects around him. It has all the fascination of a 
game. He wins out and compels conviction in 
the others by his superior grasp of the final 
truth, and by his constant sagacity in leading, 
guiding, and driving the minds of the pupils his 
own way. The effect of lessons taught thus is 
very stimulating, at times thrilling, to those par- 
ticipating. And the impressions made are likely 
to endure and to become active parts of the spir- 
itual framework of the scholar. 

MOMENTUM IN QUESTIONING 

1. What is essential in order to hold attention and 
interest? 

2. How should questions be asked? 

3. What caution is necessary? 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 161 

4. What will a rapid, thrilling flow of questions 
secure ? 

5. What form of questions are the most difficult? 

6. What questions are easy to ask? 

7. Illustrate Mr. Hall's method of questioning. 

8. How should the teacher develop the truth in his 
mind which he is endeavoring to make real? 

9. Apply Mr. Hall's method to the description of 
Saul's rejection as king. Summarize the thoughts in 
the teacher's mind, showing how he would proceed 
to question. 

10. Bring out and emphasize the opportunity for 
pertinent and forcible application. 

11. What sentences of Samuel bring out the 
climaxes ? 

12. What is to be said concerning the shape of every 
lesson and the teacher's conception of it? 

13. Whither must he compel the answers to go back? 

14. What is the main object and person of the les- 
son work? 

15. What foundation for his work must the teacher 
have? 

16. What great points should the teacher know and 
emphasize? 

17. What is the position of the live questioner? 

18. What is the effect of such teaching? 



j. Luminousness 

THE THIRD LAW OF QUESTIONING 

By presuming to take the initiative before the 
class and awakening it by a question, you are 
gathering the reins into your hand and posing as 
a master of the lesson-situation. You must be 



162 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

such. The lesson-situation embraces several ele- 
ments. First are the facts. You must be in con- 
trol of them. Second is your purpose in teach- 
ing. It must stand clear before you. There is 
the bearing of your question on the purpose. 
You, above all others, must see into this. There 
is the point of contact between your purpose and 
the thinking of the pupil. You must have ad- 
justed it in framing the question. 

In guiding the question-process you must get 
the pupils to respond to your touch, you must 
know your destination, and the road to reach 
there. What! Are you laying down the reins? 
You are afraid you cannot do all this ? Rest your 
spirit. Through practice the complexity will 
blend into a single instinct. The right questions 
will come, without your knowing it, at every turn 
of the road. 

THE LAW OF MOMENTUM 

The second law we have seen to be that of 
momentum. A car that stands still or goes too 
long on low gear becomes tedious. There must 
be some acceleration, some vivacity, some ad- 
vance at every stage. Nothing is more intoler- 
able than to bring the class to a dead halt every 
few minutes, and perhaps with a bump, by some 
question that causes a cold chill in the class, and 
stalls progress, because its purport or bearing is 
not clear. 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 163 
THE LAW OF ILLUMINATION 

The third law of questioning is the law of 
illumination. Your question should be a blind or 
a hindrance to speed only when the class is going 
too rapidly or in the wrong direction. Ordinarily, 
it should not mystify, but be perspicuous, lucid, 
understandable in itself. It also should have the 
power of throwing some brightness forward in 
the direction of the path to be traversed. Not to 
reveal the answer, or give any intimation or hint 
or help to suggest the answer, but to make the 
scholar confident of your general intention and 
direction. In other words, a question should not 
tend to stupify or paralyze his thinking activities, 
but should encourage and stimulate them, and 
give him confidence, hope, and eagerness to re- 
spond. 

The reasons why printed questions, taken from 
the book, often are a failure and suffocate class 
interest is, first, because the teacher has not mas- 
tered them, does not understand their purpose, 
their bearing, their relation to the thought of the 
pupil, and perhaps does not even know the facts 
which they connote, but must hastily look up the 
situation while she is asking the question, and 
try to gather it out of the printed page before 
her. All this is a lack of mastery. It is needless 
to say, secondly, that they interfere with mo- 
mentum; and that, in the third place, if the ques- 
tion is a dark lantern in the hand of the teacher, 



164 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

it will certainly fail to throw light into the mind 
of the scholar. When, for instance, you ask the 
questions, "Who was Hezekiah?" or "What is 
original sin?" and you yourself have little or no 
idea of the facts involved in the answers, or of 
the purpose of the questions at that particular 
point in the lesson, or of any point of contact be- 
tween the questions and the pupil, or of the gen- 
eral purpose as an aid to which the questions are 
being asked, you may be sure that, since the 
matter lacks luminosity in your own mind, it will 
not generate very much in the pupil's mind. 

Under this third law the main thing is that the 
question be clear. Adams, in his Primer, eluci- 
dates clearness thus: "The essence of clearness is, 
that whether the child can answer or not, he is at 
least sure what the question means. There are 
four words commonly used in questioning that 
call for special attention, if we wish clearness. 
They are What, Which, How, Why. In a gen- 
eral way teachers know the meaning of these 
words, but nothing short of the greatest possible 
care will save us from confusing them in actual 
speech. Remember that what wants to show 
qualities; it asks 'What sort of?' Which wants 
to know only the particular person or thing re- 
ferred to; it singles out one from a common 
group. How asks for the manner in which a 
thing is done, while if we want to know the rea- 
son, we use why. These two little words — how 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 165 

and why — are misused by young teachers to an 
extent that is very surprising." 

Another cause of lack of clearness in ques- 
tions, betokening careless habits of thinking in 
the teacher, is the use of general, common, and 
indefinite words. How can the scholar know 
which one of a number of answers you are driv- 
ing at? Weigle gives the following examples of 
such indefinite questions: "What happens when 
you tell a lie ? What do you do when you go to 
bed? What did Abel have that Cain did not? 
What is the new name promised to him that over- 
cometh ? What do we become when we are bap- 
tized ?" He says : "Do not ask questions that are 
vague and admit of many answers. Such a ques- 
tion as 'How did Saul treat David ?' needs qualifi- 
cation. Put thus, it might be answered in many 
ways : Made him court minstrel, appointed him 
armor-bearer, gave him his daughter in mar- 
riage, grew jealous of him, tried to kill him, 
drove him into outlawry, swore to a covenant 
with him at En-gedi." 

If you bear in mind the concrete lesson ma- 
terial out of which the question arises, and try to 
frame the question so definitely that the child to 
whom you are speaking will see the real point 
you are aiming at, without at the same time dis- 
closing any of the substance of the answer, you 
will be making yourself perfectly clear. 

In addition to clearness, in the second place, the 



166 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

question should have the quality of simplicity. 
You should ask for only one single thing at a 
time. And that one thing should be the pertinent 
thing. It should be the most important thing in 
the line of progress on your pathway. You may 
have to select from a half-dozen different ques- 
tion possibilities, and to mentally reject a number 
of very interesting questions. Your mind must 
reach into the complex of thought or fact, and 
pick out the one thing needful. You must ignore 
many details, fascinating as they may be, because 
they complicate matters and delay progress. A 
question once asked "becomes the center of 
thought for the moment. It gets impressed upon 
the pupil's mind and acquires dignity and im- 
portance in his eyes. It is one of the chief func- 
tions of the question, therefore, to direct attention 
to the salient facts of the lesson and to guide the 
thought of the pupil to its essential truths." * 

Much of the narrative of Scripture is not 
simple, but very complicated. In telling a story, 
the teacher who is master of the main line or plot 
of the drama can swiftly weave in an abundance 
of detail that adds quality and richness to the 
story and does not interfere with the sense of 
unity, but any attempt at multiplicity in question- 
ing only adds to distraction. Selection and sim- 
plicity, not multiplicity, is the law of clear ques- 
tioning. To throw light, a question must focus 

*Weigle. 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 167 

the whole situation upon a single point. For 
the sake of the unity and intensity of impression 
to be made upon the scholar, as well as because of 
the danger of losing our track in wandering into 
by-paths, we dare not diverge into the incidental. 

QUALITIES OF QUESTIONING 

A question, to be clear and simple, need not 
necessarily be easy. Adams rightly says, " 'Who 
is the author of the book of Hebrews?' is a simple 
but very difficult question." Can you answer it? 
Gear questioning involves a clear understanding 
of the subject. If the teacher has not prepared 
his lesson, he is very apt to fall into the habit of 
shifting his questions, that is, asking the question 
in several different forms, or even changing its 
substance once or twice before he finally gives 
the pupil a chance to answer. The pupil, who 
has been trying to follow the teacher, and has 
perhaps had several answers suggested to him 
before the teacher has finished thinking aloud, 
grows disconcerted at the teacher's frequent 
change of base, is unable to select from the an- 
swers which have occurred to him in quick suc- 
cession while the teacher was speaking ; and thus 
becomes confused, perhaps puts forth the wrong 
suggestion, or sits still in utter silence. Adams 
draws attention to the running question, which 
deliberately combines in itself a number of ele- 
ments in a situation, a sort of continued chain or 



168 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

series, and tries to ask the whole situation at 
once, as a great breach of simplicity. He calls it 
the composite question and offers the following 
specimen, "Who said what, and why did he say 
it when he was nearly drowned in the Sea of 
Galilee ?" A continued chain is admissible when 
you are trying to get the pupil to recall a whole 
paragraph of connected statements, and are help- 
ing him to link together into one whole a number 
of successive and correlated items, or when you 
are, like Mr. Hall, leading the scholar to think 
through the chain, to the logic of the conclusion, 
but not otherwise. You want an answer out of 
the heart of the scholar, and it rings most true if 
it be the condensed reproduction of a single vital 
point. 

Mastery, momentum, and luminosity — these 
three are the laws of the questioning process ; and 
under luminosity the chief qualities are, first, 
clearness; second, simplicity. 

LUMINOUSNESS IN QUESTIONING 

Law of Illumination. — (1) When only should a 
question be a check to progress in the lesson? (2) 
What ordinarily is the character of a good question? 
(3) Upon what should it have power to throw some 
brightness? (4) What should be the effect of the 
question upon the scholar to whom it is addressed? 
(5) State the reasons why the printed questions are 
often a failure. (6) Illustrate by the questions con- 
cerning Hezekiah and original sin. (7) Summarize 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 169 

Adams' arguments concerning clearness in a question. 
(8) Give and explain Weigle's examples of indefinite 
questions. 

Qualities of Questioning. — (1) What essential 
points should be kept in mind in order that you may 
make yourself perfectly clear? (2) Why and how 
secure simplicity in questioning? (3) What is the 
chief function of the question? (4) State and explain 
the law of clear questioning. (5) To throw light, 
what must a question do? (6) Why should the ques- 
tioner not diverge into the incidental? (7) What in 
the teacher's method of questioning is the cause of 
confusion in the mind of the scholar? (8) State the 
objection to the so-called running question. (9) When 
only is the running question admissible? 

4. Vitality 

THE FOURTH LAW OF QUESTIONING 

The first law of questioning is that of Mas- 
tery. It presupposes effective contact with the 
lesson on the one side and with the pupil on the 
other. The second law is that of Momentum. 
It bars out hesitation and tedious interruption. 
The third law is that of Luminousness. It in- 
volves the use of clear thought and clear lan- 
guage. The fourth law of questioning is that of 
Vitality. A Sunday- School is not a cemetery. It 
is not a dormitory. It is not a repository, or 
storage-house of antiques. It deals in and 
handles eternal life. Vitality of mind, heart, and 
soul must be kindled. Questions are the probe 
to stir and stimulate the scholar's inner life. 



170 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 
PURPOSE OF FACT QUESTIONS 

In asking questions of fact of the pupil, we 
may have any one of the following purposes : 

1. To recall and fix the form. 

2. To recall and fix the substance. 

3. To discuss the substance. 

When our questions are intended to recall the 
form, the object may be: 

1. To keep the flow clear and unbroken. 

2. To impress and memorize the text. 

3. To insist on complete accuracy of detail. 

4. To induce automatic response on the part of 
the pupil, and thus save him serious effort, ac- 
celerate progress — i. e., momentum — and skim 
over the lesson in a hurry. 

A BAD PURPOSE 

Let us take up the fourth point. This is an 
illegitimate and superficial way of teaching the 
lesson. Its effect is to pass through the form of 
the truth, but to deny, or at least ignore, the 
power thereof. It seems to leave teacher and 
scholar under the comfortable illusion that they 
have fulfilled their task. They have touched 
every part and have come to the end with a rush. 
They are happy in the satisfaction of having dis- 
charged what was required. Now they can rest. 

What an illusion! They, indeed, have gone 
over the lesson, but they have not gone through 
it. Nor has it gone into and through them. They 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 171 

have gone over it as a bird flies over a lake. They 
have not touched any of its awakening, cleansing, 
and refreshing depths. 

They have set in motion the mechanism of the 
lesson; and the response has been perfect, easy, 
and automatic. Question and answer have inter- 
locked beautifully, every part of the machinery 
has responded without flaw or jar, and they have 
come in flying to the goal. 

The process has been smooth, agreeable, rapid, 
and lifeless. The lesson has lacked all vital ele- 
ments. The class has been operating a piece of 
prepared mechanism. The process is automatic. 

THE MAIN PURPOSE 

Without vitality there can be no prolonged in- 
terest on the part of the scholar, and if the auto- 
matic method is repeated every Sunday its 
process becomes inexpressibly tedious. It seems 
scarcely worth while that the scholar rouse him- 
self from his sluggishness to mumble the answer 
which is ready at hand without effort. The main 
purpose of the questioning, which was to vitalize 
the lesson by setting the scholar's mind to think- 
ing, is defeated. 

If you possess a live point of contact with the 
scholar, and a live purpose in your mind, your 
questions will be vital, and not mechanical. You 
will know what you are going to do. The thread 
of connection will be the living thread in your 



172 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

mind, and not the mechanical sequence of the 
book. The questions will suggest themselves, 
and will be modified by the particular responses 
of the pupil. 

PRINTED LESSON QUESTIONS 

We fear that the lesson page of a Quarterly 
with its set questions, or a teachers question book 
just as readily, are the cause of a habit of lifeless 
interrogation, or at least the occasion through 
which the teacher drifts into mechanical work. 

These printed lesson questions are not intended 
to be used just as they stand. Usually the ques- 
tions are formulated with a view to assisting the 
teachers and scholars to prepare the lesson, and 
hence they look to giving aid toward a mastery 
of the facts, and of important parts of the text. 
But the teacher's purpose is different. He aims 
to clothe the bones with the garment of life. It 
is quite true that a further intention in printing 
the questions is to make suggestions to and assist 
the teacher in questioning the pupil; but as the 
individuality of the scholar is unknown and can- 
not be reckoned on in preparing these questions, 
they are not fitted to be taken as they are, as the 
full basis of the question work of the teacher. 
And even if the questions were fully charged 
with vitality and were perfect in their fit to the 
pupil in every particular, they would not evoke a 
proper response for the simple reason that they 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 173 

are on paper, and are not a real living interchange 
of mind with mind. 

We frequently have heard the questions of the 
' 'lesson leaf" cried down as the cause of mechan- 
ical teaching in classes, but this misapprehension 
is due to a misunderstanding and misapplication 
of the purpose of the questions. Never use the 
printed lesson questions mechanically, or other- 
wise than suggestively. And remember that their 
main purpose is to help in the preparation of the 
lesson rather than in its reproduction. 

THE LAW OF VITALITY 

A live question will break into the scholar's 
ideas. It will throw a burning spark into his 
cranium. It will not permit the scholar to evade 
the issue by merely answering yes or no, or by 
suggesting the kind of answer the teacher ex- 
pects, or perhaps by even suggesting part of the 
language of the answer. Prof. H. H. Home, in 
his little book on The Art of Questioning * says : 
"A question should exercise the pupil's judg- 
ment, and not simply test his memory. When 
only the memory is tested and pupils repeat by 
rote what they have verbally memorized, teach- 
ing becomes mechanical and devitalized. So far 
as the quickening touch of life and the real train- 

* Published by The Pilgrim Press, 14 Beacon Street, 
Boston, Mass. Price, 3 cents. 



174 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

ing of the child are concerned, the teacher might 
as well be getting his answers from a phono- 
graph as from a pupil's mind packed with verb- 
ally remembered knowledge. What develops the 
child's outlook and his real appreciation of the 
subject is to get him to think, to express a judg- 
ment about the matter. 

"A judgment is the mind's assertion about 
reality. This it is that knits truth into the intel- 
lectual fiber of the pupil's being, that assimilates 
the knowledge received. As unassimilated food 
means physical indigestion, so unassimilated 
knowledge means mental indigestion; and when 
the habit of not thinking is persisted in, mental 
dyspepsia results, and solid mental achievement 
becomes impossible. 

"The pupil must take a share in giving himself 
the lesson. There must be a mental effort in 
every answer. Such questions instruct; such 
questions are truly Socratic. It is a mistaken 
notion to think that Socrates was a simple asker 
of questions; the Meno of Plato shows that 
Socrates developed the answer from the learner's 
mind ; and this makes Socrates the world's 
teacher in the art of questioning. 

"In applying this characteristic it will, of 
course, be remembered that with pupils under 
fourteen it is the memory rather than the judg- 
ment to which appeal must dominantly, though 
not exclusively, be made." 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 175 
NO STEREOTYPED ANSWER 

Sir Joshua Fitch goes further and insists that, 
to get a live answer, the scholar may not use the 
language of Scripture in his reply, but must give 
the answer in his own words. We believe that 
where the scholar uses his own idea, and clothes 
it in part, by way of proof and illustration, with 
the words of Scripture, he is realizing the highest 
type of answer. But, since usually in framing 
an answer the text of a book is resorted to for 
the purpose of getting a ready-made answer, the 
caution of Fitch is necessary. He illustrates the 
point from the lesson of the Good Samaritan as 
follows : 

A certain man went down from Jerusalem to 
Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped 
him of his raiment, and wounded him, and de- 
parted, leaving him half dead. 

Who is this parable about ? A certain man. 

Where did he go from ? Jerusalem. 

Where to? Jericho. 

What sort of people did he fall among? 
Thieves. 

What did they do with his raiment? Stripped 
him of it. 

What did they do with the man himself? 
Wounded him. 

In what state did they leave him ? Half dead. 

"Observe here that the teacher has covered the 
whole area of the narrative and proposed a 



176 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

question on every fact; so far he has done well. 

"But notice that every question was proposed 
as nearly as possible in the words of the book, 
and required for its answer one (generally but 
one) of those words. Now it is very easy for a 
boy or girl, while the echoes of the Bible narra- 
tive just read still linger in the ear, to answer 
every such question by rote merely, with scarcely 
any effort of memory, and no effort of thought 
whatever. 

"Let us go over the same subject again : 

Who used these words? 

To whom were they spoken? 

Why were they uttered? 

Repeat the question which the lawyer asked. 

What is the parable about? A man who went 
on a journey. 

What do you call a man who goes on a jour- 
ney? A traveler. 

In what country was the man traveling? 
Judea. 

Let us trace his route on the map. In what 
direction was he traveling? Eastward. 

Through what kind of country? (Teacher 
supply fact about its physical features.) 

What should you suppose was the state of the 
country at that time? Thinly populated; road 
unfrequented. 

How do you know that? Because he fell 
among thieves. 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 177 

Give another word for thieves. Robbers. 

How did the robbers treat this traveler ? They 
stripped him of his clothes. 

What else did they do? Wounded him. 

Explain that word. Injured him; hurt him 
very much. 

How do you know from the text that he was 
much hurt ? They left him half dead. They al- 
most killed him. 

"Now observe here that the aim has been two- 
fold. First, not to suggest the answer by the 
form of the question. Hence the children have 
been made to interpret the Biblical language by 
that of ordinary life. Second, not to be satisfied 
with single words as answers, especially with the 
particular word which is contained in the narra- 
tive itself, but always to translate it into one more 
familiar." 

Exact reproduction of the text is a good thing 
in its time and place, as we shall see elsewhere, 
and it generally is too little insisted on. But it is 
only one of the elements of a good lesson, and 
outside of classes that are within the limits of the 
memory ages of childhood this reproduction 
should come as a climax and by way of summing 
up the thought-work that already has been done. 
It can never be used as a substitute for live and 
original thinking. Otherwise the question-work 
will be lacking in its greatest charm and its great- 
est use — viz., as a stimulus to thinking. We must 



178 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

observe the fourth great law of questioning — 
viz., Vitality. 

LIVE QUESTIONING 

1. State and define the four laws of questioning thus 
far given. 

2. Give the four purposes which we may have in 
questioning. 

3. What objects may be in view when the question 
is intended to recall the form? 

4. Show why an attempt to induce automatic re- 
sponse on the part of the pupil is wrong. 

5. Show the illusion of this automatic questioning. 

6. Why does this method prevent prolonged interest? 

7. What is the effect of a live purpose in the teach- 
er's mind? 

8. What is the danger of set questions? 

9. What is the intention of the printed lesson ques- 
tions, as compared with the purpose of the teacher? 

10. What will be the effect of a live question on the 
scholar's ideas? 

11. Give Prof. Home's statement concerning the art 
of questioning. 

12. What share must the pupil take in the lesson? 

13. Give Mr. Fitch's idea of a live question and an- 
swer. 

14. What is the highest type of answer? 

15. Illustrate this method of questioning from the 
lesson of the Good Samaritan. 

16. State the twofold aim. 

17. Why is reproduction of the lesson text only one 
element of a good lesson? 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 179 
5. Accuracy 

THE FIFTH LAW OF QUESTIONING 

We have discussed the law of vitality in enliv- 
ening the question process. Stimulus to thought 
is what the scholar needs. Life, spiritual life, is 
the substance and goal of our work. And yet, 
life cannot dispense with the outer form. There 
is a great deal of questioning whose proper pur- 
pose is to bring out, develop, and permanently es- 
tablish the form of knowledge. It is not of minor 
importance to be able to "hold fast to the form 
of sound words." 

The teacher's object in fixing the form is either 
to enable the scholar to keep the flow of the nar- 
rative unbroken in his thought, or to impress the 
actual text on the memory, or to gain a complete 
accuracy of detail. 

TYPES OF FORMAL MEMORY 

Three types of memory are here involved: 
first, a thought-memory; second, a verbal-mem- 
ory; and third, a fact-memory. All three types 
are called into play in a perfect mastery of Scrip- 
ture. The thought-memory devotes itself to the 
transition- points in the narrative or argument, 
and recalls how they glide into each other and 
thus fixes the connection. The verbal-memory 
recalls the words in their order; and the fact- 
memory discriminates betwen the more important 
and less important facts or things in the lesson, 



180 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

and holds them fast. Hence a perfect recall in- 
volves the reproduction of thought, words, and 
things, one or all. 

MEMORY WEAKNESSES 

Very frequently the weakness in the scholar's 
mind lies in his failure to have grasped and re- 
tained the thought — either as a whole, or in its 
connecting relations. Quite frequently, when the 
thought remains, the words in which it was ex- 
pressed have taken unto themselves wings and 
disappeared in the dim and obscure mists of 
shadow-land. And even the things, the bare out- 
standing facts of the lesson, are easily jumbled 
and tumble together into an abyss of confusion. 

THE QUESTION AS A MIND CATHARTIC AND MEMORY 
TONIC 

The use of the question in all these cases is in- 
valuable. Through it, first of all, we discover the 
exact state of the scholar's mind. Second , 
through it we gradually and steadily disentangle 
the confusion. Third, through it we enable the 
scholar to recall the fading elements with ex- 
actitude. Fourth, through it, after having 
clarified the mind, we set and fasten the elements 
more enduringly. 

THE NECESSITY OF ACCURACY 

From what has been said, it will appear that a 
fundamental law of questioning is Accuracy. We 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 181 

now add to the four other laws — Mastery, Mo- 
mentum, Luminousness, and Vitality — the im- 
portant matter of Accuracy, and make it our 
Fifth Law. All questions should be conceived 
and framed in the spirit of accuracy. 

THINGS THAT WORK AGAINST ACCURACY 

There are many pests that work against accu- 
racy in questioning. One of these is lack of 
clearness of thought. Another is the teacher's 
ignorance. A third is his easily growing habit of 
carelessness, hopelessness, and indifference. A 
fourth is unresponsiveness or stupidity in the 
scholar. A fifth is want of time during the class 
period to follow up the questioning process with 
individuals until accuracy is secured. 

And there are others, particularly a lack of in- 
tellectual sincerity and honesty in the teacher's 
dealing with the scholar. Many questions are so 
framed as to protect the teacher's weakness 
rather than to bring out the scholar's knowledge. 
No teacher should yield to the temptation of 
throwing the scholar off the track, or of befog- 
ging the issue in order to hide and shield his own 
ignorance. Without becoming a stickler or a 
purist, the teacher should aim to minister to ac- 
curacy in the forthcoming answers. 

The chief sinner, in many classes, is the 
teacher. His questions are not asked to a real 
purpose. He is aiming at some supposed aca- 



182 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

demic requirement and not at the real thing. Or, 
if his purpose is real, how clumsily he takes hold 
of the situation. How can any one accurately 
answer such a question as this: "What does a 
little boy do when he becomes a man ?" He goes 
to work, he puts away childish things, he spends 
his own money, he often forgets to say his pray- 
ers, he votes at the polls, and does a thousand 
other things. 

THE OVERSCRUPULOUS TEACHER 

One caution is necessary on this point. For 
ourselves, as teachers, we cannot lay too great 
stress on accuracy of thought and form in our 
questions; but, so long as our scholar is really 
thinking, we should not expect too much from 
him in the way of accuracy. Still less should we 
break in upon him and continually nag him by 
our corrections, or pester him to weariness with 
questions that riddle his answers. De Garmo * 
says : "One should refrain from tripping the pupil 
with disconcerting questions. A race over ob- 
stacles may be diverting, but it does not conduce 
to steady advance. It is even better to permit the 
pupil to blunder through to the end of his recita- 
tion than to interrupt him perpetually with ques- 
tions calculated to obstruct the current of his 
thought. Sometimes teachers are so impatient to 
obtain immediate results that they find it impos- 
sible to wait." 

* Interest and Education, p. 203. 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 183 

And on this Weigle * remarks : "Such over- 
questioning defeats its own end. It takes away 
the pupil's self-activity. It weakens his power 
of thought and expression. It makes him de- 
pendent upon the continual stimulus of questions. 
Give the pupil a chance to think for himself. Let 
him answer questions in his own way." 

TRAINING THE SCHOLAR INTO ACCURACY 

And yet, in so far as we are responsible in the 
Sunday-School for training into rectitude, we 
must have a watchful eye for accuracy. There is 
positively no success without it. The boy who 
misses or fouls a ball at the bat, or muffs it in 
the field is below par. The clerk who makes mis- 
takes in addition or subtraction, the contractor 
who fails to take account of all the items in the 
bid, is unreliable and often practically useless. 
His work must be gone over a second time. 

In any education accuracy is the greatest in- 
tellectual virtue. Says Prof. Roark : f "To know 
exactly, to remember correctly, to state color- 
lessly the precise facts, . . . these are rare ac- 
complishments, and no effort should be spared 
to cultivate them in those for whose training and 
care we are responsible. A teacher cannot be 
too particular about the 'little things/ Children 
must be taught to respect details; and 'not quite 

*The Pupil and the Teacher, p. 175. 
Psychology in Education, p. 64. 



184 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

right, but near enough* is an expression that 
should never be used by either pupils or teacher." 

THE DIFFICULTY OF BEING ACCURATE 

Accuracy is the sum of scientific attainment, 
and it requires insight, care, and patience. There 
is nothing more troublesome than to get the exact 
truth without subtraction or addition. Prof. 
Mathews draws attention to the painful experi- 
ence of lawyers in questioning witnesses. "Even 
when the witness is conscientious," says he, "and 
anxious 'a round, unvarnished tale' to tell, the re- 
sult usually is imperfect and perplexing." And 
yet the habit should and can be taught. "I 
scarcely care," says Arthur Helps, "what is 
taught to the young, if it will but implant in him 
the habit of accuracy. I do not know that there 
is anything, except humility, which is so valu- 
able as an incident of education." 

OUR GENERATION IS AVERSE TO THE LABOR 
REQUIRED 

John Ruskin tells us that he gave three years 
incessant labor to the examination of the chro- 
nology of the architecture of Venice, two long 
winters being wholly spent on the drawing of 
details on the spot ; and then he satirically draws 
attention to superficial architects who skim for 
three or four days in a gondola through that city 
on the sea, going up and down the grand canal, 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 185 

and thinking that their first impressions are as 
likely to be true as his patiently wrought conclu- 
sions. 

In Ruskin's judgment the majority of scholars 
do not care for accuracy. They want to be audi- 
ences only. Says he, "Everybody wants to hear, 
nobody to read, nobody to think. To be excited 
for an hour, and if possible amused; to get the 
knowledge it has cost a man half his life to 
gather, first sweetened up to make it palatable, 
and then kneaded into the smallest possible pills, 
and to swallow it homeopathically and be wise — 
this is the passionate desire and hope of the mul- 
titude of the day." But Ruskin sternly adds, 
"It is not to be done." "A living comment 
quietly given to a class on a book they are ear- 
nestly reading is eternally necessary and whole- 
some ; your modern fire-working, smooth-downy- 
curry-and-strawberry-ice- and-milk-punch-lecture 
is a pestilent and abominable vanity." 

It is for this reason that in Grade Lessons we 
do not try to cover great and vague stretches of 
ground in a single lesson period. Every lesson 
is limited to a specific topic. Topic is added to 
topic, until the whole field is completed. The 
average teacher loves to take the cream off of a 
dozen subjects in a single lesson, without any re- 
gard to waste of material or orderly process. 
Hence the average teacher does not like either to 
question others or to be questioned himself. In 



186 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

many cases one must choose between being pop- 
ular and being thorough. The thorough teacher 
will find no instrument so useful in his work as 
the accurate use of questions. 

ACCURACY IN QUESTIONING 

1. Why must questioning often aim to establish to 
form of knowledge? 

2. For what purpose have we already seen that many 
questions are asked? 

3. State and elaborate the types of memory here 
involved. 

4. What are frequently the memory weaknesses in 
the scholar's mind? 

5. What four uses of the question in all these cases 
are invaluable? 

The Necessity of Accuracy. — (1) Name the five 
fundamental laws thus far presented. (2) Point out 
the things that work against accuracy. (3) What cau- 
tion is offered to the overscrupulous teacher? (4) 
What does Prof. Weigle say concerning overquestion- 
ing? (5) Why, nevertheless, should the scholar be 
trained into accuracy? (6) Point out the difficulty 
of being accurate. (7) State the argument drawn 
from the method of John Ruskin. (8) What is the 
reason here given for the extent and method of the 
lessons in the Graded Series? (9) What does the 
average teacher love to do? (10) What will the thor- 
ough teacher find most useful? 

6. Sustaining Interest 

THE SIXTH LAW OF QUESTIONING 

The teacher's question may be clear and lumi- 
nous. It may be accurately stated. It may even 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 187 

be a live question, and yet may fail to maintain 
the interest of the scholar. 

THE QUESTION PATH 

Starting with a point of contact, at which we 
gain the natural hold on our scholar's attention, 
we must proceed along a path which will not only 
lead to the end in view, but which, step by step, 
will continue to call out and hold the attention of 
the class. 

DIFFICULTY OF THIS LAW 

It is not an easy thing to select and follow the 
path of interest through the scholar's mind, and 
successfully carry our gradually unfolding sub- 
ject along with us to the selected goal. The first 
difficulty is in understanding the scholar's mind ; 
the second is in connecting the mind with the sub- 
ject, and not at any point getting ourselves 
switched off the track ; and the third is in making 
such evident progress as the scholar will appreci- 
ate, so that he will continue to be on the qui vive 
for what is still further to come. 

HOW TO MAINTAIN THE SCHOLAR'S INTEREST 

The best we can do, after we know the lesson 
and the scholar, and select the right starting- 
point, and are thoroughly interested in the lesson 
ourselves, is to keep clearly before us what we 
are aiming at, and then go ahead freely and trust 



188 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

our instinct as to what we shall ask at each stage 
of development. 

KNOWING THE SCHOLAR'S MIND 

Some of your boys may be alert and eager if 
you have not by your past teaching dulled their 
sense of expectation. Others will be dull, listless, 
and unapproachable. Still others will have their 
thoughts far away. We call them "absent- 
minded." We mean that they are thinking of 
something that is foreign to the matter in hand. 
They are either absorbed in some fascinating 
ideas and projects outside of your plan; or their 
minds are wandering restlessly and aimlessly on 
all sorts of things, and are unable to concentrate 
on what you say. They are present with you in 
body, but absent in spirit. The problem is to 
recall them within the circle of your ideas, and 
to make them eager and active participants there. 

THE SECRET OF ABSENT-MINDEDNESS 

You may not at first know the circumstances 
that are holding their minds so far away from 
yours. It may be a race or a game that is to come 
off tomorrow. It may be a day-dream that has 
taken hold of some one's fancy. It may have 
been suggested by some odd sight or trick or per- 
son of whom you are unconscious, but whom 
they see right before them. Some oddity in your- 
self, of which you are blissfully ignorant, or 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 189 

some illustration that you have used, may have 
caused their imagination to have taken flight far 
beyond your orbit. It may be a lack of sym- 
pathy with you personally, or an antipathy to the 
lesson work as given in the text-book, or it may 
be nothing more than general apathy, unrespon- 
siveness, and lazy mentality. 

For every mind is often in what the psycholo- 
gists call a state of "diffuse consciousness." It 
sees things without noticing, it hears remarks 
without understanding them. It actually touches 
points without feeling them. (Dexter and Gar- 
lick.) 

HOW TO SOUND THE RECALL 

What you need in order to recall these wander- 
ing stars to your orbit is to intensify their con- 
sciousness and concentrate it upon the point in 
hand. A good question will do this. It will 
summon their minds from vacancy and cause 
them to stretch out their thoughts toward you. 
This stretching out of their interest toward you 
is voluntary "attention." It is awakening their 
interest. Attention is defined as "the direction 
of the mind to any object which presents itself to 
it at the moment." 

Attention is awakened by stimulus and main- 
tained by variety and progress. You may your- 
self be destroying their voluntary attention by 
presenting no stimulus, by speaking continuously 



190 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

in a loud monotonous voice without any variety 
in your vocal cadences, or by failing to make in- 
teresting progress from one thought to another. 

THE FOUR CAUSES OF INTEREST 

Attention depends more upon evoking memo- 
ries and feelings than upon presenting solid 
thought. It depends, first, upon your recalling 
some ideas that have been active in the scholars' 
minds in the past; then, upon your connecting 
what you are saying with what is pleasurable or 
painful to their inner selves; further, upon your 
ability to awaken their curiosity or wish to know 
the unknown, and, finally, upon the satisfaction 
they experience in realizing that they are gaining 
an insight and a mental hold they have not had 
before. 

If you know their favorite thoughts, the ways 
in which their minds love to run, their natural 
predilections, the dominant tastes that are draw- 
ing them at that particular time, and so form your 
question that a connection will be established be- 
tween the lesson and what is thus going on within 
them, you will gain their attention. 

DEGREES AND LIMITS OF INTEREST 

There are many degrees of attention. When 
the mind is fresh and buoyant ; when the body is 
not wearied by bad ventilation, heat, too much 
confinement to a single position, or other en- 
forced inactivity; when the scholar's tempera- 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 191 

ment is not sluggish; when the lesson is not too 
hard, so that the scholar is unable to recall any 
effective ideas on the subject; when the lesson is 
not too easy, so that the scholar finds nothing in 
it that he has not already known long ago; and 
when there is abundant sympathy and good-will 
between you and your scholar, you will have the 
highest degree of attention. 

You cannot retain this attention after weari- 
ness is reached without an entire change of 
method. Little children, whose wills are weak, 
or untrained children, who have grown careless 
in the daily school, are incapable of prolonged 
effort. Unless you can stimulate their feelings 
in a new direction they will be lost to the re- 
mainder of the lesson. 

The depth of any impression you make will de- 
pend upon the degree of attention you have 
evoked. Distractions, whether they come from 
outside or whether you yourself have inadvert- 
ently introduced them, will turn their minds else- 
where. You cannot hold your scholars against 
the music of a brass band that comes marching 
up the street. The best thing to do is to make a 
complete break, go with and guide your scholars' 
feelings in the new attraction, and then by natural 
transition lead them back to the subject in hand. 

SOME FEELINGS THAT WILL RESPOND TO QUESTIONS 

Good scholars will respond to you because they 



192 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

want your esteem and approval; ambitious 
scholars will respond to any idea of rivalry you 
introduce; indifferent scholars may be stirred by 
curiosity or by appeal to feelings which you know 
are powerful within them. 

You will not be uniformly successful in inter- 
esting the class even with the most attractive 
questions. There will be days — especially in 
heavy, oppressive weather — when the whole class 
may be dull or restless. Your lessons will vary 
much as to the material they can offer you. The 
spirit of the school and of neighboring classes 
may be against you. 

But even should you feel that the lesson is an 
almost total failure, do not be discouraged. You 
cannot tell the result. You do not know at what 
apparently unfavorable moment some seed of life 
may have lodged in one of their minds and hearts, 
to sprout and bear fruit in later years. And even 
if substantial results in today's lesson work have 
failed, if only you have been sympathetic and 
drawn but a changeful and transitory interest, 
you have accomplished something toward training 
the scholars to stretch their minds to you next 
time under more favorable circumstances. You 
unconsciously have been teaching them to con- 
centrate their thinking on the lesson and its diffi- 
cult spiritual truths. They will do a little better 
next time. 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 193 

QUESTIONS THAT MAINTAIN ATTENTION 

1. State the sixth law of questioning. 

2. From what starting-point and whither must the 
question path lead? 

3. State the difficulty of this law. 

4. What is the best way to maintain the scholar's 
interest? 

5. What problem does the knowing of the scholar's 
mind present? 

6. What are the secrets of this absent-mindedness? 

7. Define what the psychologist calls a state of 
"diffuse consciousness." 

8. By what method may you sound the recall to the 
minds of such pupils? 

9. Define "attention." 

10. State the four causes of interest upon which 
attention depends. 

11. Give and indicate the degrees and limits of 
interest. 

12. Point out and illustrate some of the feelings 
that will respond to questions. 

/. Personal Application 

THE SEVENTH LAW OF QUESTIONING 

Perhaps the most beautiful illustration of our 
Lord's ability to reach the heart through ques- 
tions, an illustration in which many of the ele- 
ments enumerated above are combined, is to be 
found in the lesson that He taught to the lawyer 
who stood and tempted Him, saying, "Master, 
what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 

Our Saviour began His teacher's work by the 
catechetical method, with an appeal to the law- 



194 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

yer's mental power of recall. He asks a brief 
question which throws the lawyer back on the 
authority with which he has long been familiar, 
and which he recalls and reproduces from mem- 
ory. This is the starting point and foundation 
of all that follows. The Saviour says to him, 
"What is written in the law?" "How readest 
thou?" 

The answer of the man is complete and suf- 
ficient, from the formal point of view; and 
it is a striking testimony to the value of the 
memoriter method as practiced by Jewish par- 
ents with their children, and by Jewish scribes 
and teachers of the Scripture with their disciples. 

Now, if teaching were simply "Causing another 
to know" in a formal sense, there would have 
been no occasion for our Lord to go any further. 
He "caused the lawyer to know." But our Lord 
understood full well that He had scarcely begun 
His teaching work. As yet He had simply gotten 
hold of the husks of the business. The lawyer's 
mind had been faithful in its reproduction, but 
the vital point of the truth had not dawned upon 
his soul. His eyes were sealed, and his mind 
was blind. Teaching such as this, of which there 
is much in our schools, and some in our pulpits, 
leaves the pupil where it found him. The real 
work of the Saviour was still to come. 

In order to give the learned lawyer a spiritual 
shake-up, the Saviour proceeds to a further step. 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 195 

Here he differs in method from our modern au- 
thorities. He abandons the scientific plan. He 
has begun with the catechetical method. One 
might suppose that with the intention of closely 
cross-examining a lawyer's heart, He would con- 
tinue in the use of the catechetical method. He 
does nothing of the kind. Instead of shaking that 
lawyer up with a question coming from without, 
He so prepares the current of thought that, in a 
minute, the lawyer will not be able to escape from 
shaking himself up, and from dropping the confi- 
dent attitude of presumption which up to this 
point he had assumed. 

It is better to make a man shake up himself, 
than to have his teacher to take hold of him and 
give him the shaking. 

So the Saviour's next step is simply an ex- 
pression of full approval of the lawyer's answer; 
with a little side remark tacked on to the effect 
that all the lawyer needs to do is to act on the 
words so ably quoted. "Thou hast answered 
right : this do and thou shalt live." 

But now the lawyer, who had a conscience, and 
who could not honestly rule himself up to such 
a square, simple, exceptionless interpretation of 
the law, and still rest satisfied, began to be in 
trouble. 

In this quiet way the Saviour had accom- 
plished the first necessary point. He had de- 
stroyed self-assurance in a sinful mind. He had 



196 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

gotten the lawyer into trouble with his own con- 
science and his own record. Uncertainty, if not 
condemnation, were ready to spring out and drag 
the lawyer's soul whither it did not wish to go. 
The lawyer felt himself impelled to self-defense. 
The whole situation had been quickly altered. 
From an assailant, the lawyer's mind had turned 
round to the attitude of self-defense. In hoping 
to find a limitation which was bearable, to the 
sweeping principle which our Saviour had gotten 
the lawyer to lay down with his own mouth, the 
lawyer felt himself obliged to ask the question, 
"And who is my neighbor?" 

Then came that most wonderful of all stories : 
a pure story, in which our mind does not permit 
itself to rest with the Wounded Man among the 
Thieves, nor with the Priest, nor with the Levite, 
nor with the Samaritan pouring in oil and wine, 
nor with the Journey to the Inn, nor even with 
the payment of the Host for his care, but comes 
squarely and with tremendous force to the prac- 
tical question, "Which now of these three, think- 
est thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among 
the thieves ?" 

Notice several most important facts in connec- 
tion with the masterly method of our Lord in 
teaching this lesson to a lawyer. First of all, the 
Saviour used a question, bringing the truth into 
touch with the pupil's consciousness by a formal 
act of memory-recall. Secondly, in that quiet 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 197 

way in which He uttered many of the sealed 
parables and spoke the mysteries of the Kingdom, 
He brought the lawyer's soul to the point where 
it was forced to become dissatisfied with its own 
previous and dead apprehension of the knowl- 
edge it already possessed. In the third place, 
when the lawyer's mind was really submissive, 
and eager to learn, the catechetical method was 
abandoned, and though He was speaking presum- 
ably to a learned man and philosopher, the method 
of fundamental statement and of announcing 
theological principles were put to a side, and a 
wonderful story was used as the living seed to 
fall into the freshened and receptive soil of the 
lawyer's soul. Before the lawyer had an in- 
stant's time to recover from the fascinating spell, 
and from the onward sweep of the irresistible 
current with which that story rolled on — sure as 
fate — to its powerful end, the Saviour made the 
application, this time most personal and intense 
and unescapable, in the form of another cate- 
chetical question. 

The first question to the lawyer had as its pur- 
pose intelligent memoriter reproduction. The 
second step in teaching was a statement, which 
was an assurance in form, but had as its object 
the raising of a vital question and issue in the 
soul. The third question had as its goal, the in- 
evitable and final settlement by the lawyer's own 
soul, and against his own desire, and with a force 



198 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

that could not be gainsaid, of the one essential 
point which the lawyer needed to see, as his own 
great failing. 

When the reply of the lawyer came, it could 
not be other than it was. The lawyer was obliged 
to step into the net he sought to avoid, and, still 
more, to acknowledge the justice and propriety 
of the net's being spread. After the lawyer's 
soul had convinced itself intelligently and spir- 
itually as to this principle, the great Teacher still 
further showed His divine wisdom by bringing 
the lesson to a conclusion with a practical com- 
mand. The intellectual battle had been won, and 
the principle had been settled in the story. To 
complete and crown all, came the command of 
the Teacher that the lawyer should carry his oivn 
conclusions into practice. 

Nothing can be more adequate or impressive 
than teaching such as this. The intellectual prac- 
tice of our Lord, Who knew what was in man, 
and Who was Himself the truth of God, and 
therefore fitted to be the Light of the World and 
the Revealer of the Glory of God, is a wonderful 
example of the effective use of the question in 
applying it to the soul of the scholar. 

PERSONAL APPLICATION 

1. What question did the lawyer ask the Saviour? 

2. With what question did the Saviour reply, and 
what was its purpose? 



HOW SHALL I USE QUESTIONS? 199 

3. What was the value of the lawyer's answer? 

4. What does the Saviour now say? 

5. Why does He abandon the catechetical method, 
and with what result? 

6. What question does the lawyer ask? 

7. What story does the Saviour tell in reply, and 
with what question does He close His reply? 

8. Sum up the facts in the Saviour's method. 

9. What was the Saviour's closing comment? 

10. Why was the Saviour an excellent questioner? 



CHAPTER XVII 
The Teacher's Training and Influence 

As Contributory to Effectiveness in Teaching 
the new pupil 

There has been some attempt at child-training 
in the Primary Department. The teacher has ex- 
ercised influence over the little one as over a 
child. His conduct has been observed and cor- 
rected like that of a child and his study has been 
after the manner of a child. 

As he gets higher up, things are different. If 
the little fellow is honestly intentioned, earnest 
and ambitious, and falls into the right hands, he 
may continue to be faithful. But there is dan- 
ger that he soon become a failure in his higher 
surroundings. Perhaps he will stumble at once, 
being unable to make the new adjustment. He 
does not know how to think, how to study alone, 
and possibly he has had no training to use his 
mind as apart from memory. In case he was 
perverted already as a young child, his descent 
into downright incorrigibility will be rapid. Only 
personal influence, with firm action, will rescue 
him from the pathway of destruction. His new 
teacher is, so to say, his Last Hope. 
200 



THE TEACHER'S INFLUENCE 201 

TRAINING THE NEW PUPIL 

It is as large a part of the helpfulness of the 
teacher to train the new pupils how to think out 
their lesson, and how to study successfully, as it 
is to explain the subject matter while in the act 
of teaching. A part of every lesson period should 
be spent in aiding the pupil to help himself in his 
new work. Draw his attention to the important 
points, explain the difficult places and suggest 
how they may be mastered. It may be well, for 
a little while, to get the scholar to prepare part 
of the lesson right in the school under the 
teacher's eye and direction. 

The first thing to do is to assume, or if neces- 
sary, to acquire, control of the class. In this 
effort the teacher should remember that new 
faces, new surroundings, and new subjects tend 
to produce a sense of strangeness and embarrass- 
ment in the more retiring pupils ; while the more 
bold and brazen ones, if there be such, or those 
who have not a good intention toward the main 
object of the school and its work, will begin to 
inaugurate a reactionary policy in the class, or 
at least soon manifest an attitude of utter in- 
difference. 

THE SCHOLAR THAT WILL NOT RESPOND 

In our early dealings with the scholar, we may 
find ourselves unable to gain free and unembar- 
rassed access to his mind. This will clog the 



202 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

teaching. It may be his immaturity that causes 
the trouble. It may be his uneasiness under a 
new method, coupled with a feeling of strange- 
ness toward a new teacher. Even when the 
scholar's good-will is manifest, your teaching 
may drop to a slow and painful process. But 
your good spirits, persevering sympathy, intuitive 
insight, patience and mental attractiveness, your 
fresh modes of approach, may gradually conquer 
even the most intractable. 

Many a new boy is a puzzle. He appears to be 
diffident. It is difficult to discover and try out 
his real thought. He may answer only in mono- 
syllables. Any attempt to develop freedom or 
independence of expression will throw him off 
the track as suddenly as a horse shies off from 
the appearance of an unaccustomed object and 
dashes the rider into the roadside fence. After 
such a catastrophe, the scholar, perhaps the whole 
class, may remain away the next week. 

A teacher full of enthusiasm for the new work 
is apt to have overexalted ideas, and to expect 
too much, and by failing to understand the situa- 
tion may come to grief, or at least to great dis- 
appointment, before confidence between herself 
and her class is established. It is a slow labor of 
patience and love to build up a real mental grasp 
of the lesson, unembarrassed thinking, a better 
power of response and exercise of judgment in 
expression. 



THE TEACHER'S INFLUENCE 203 

In this work the teacher should comprehend 
what the scholar has been through under his 
former teacher, what sort of foundation has been 
laid in his mind, and what method he has been 
accustomed to in the department from which he 
has just come. A consultation with the teacher 
of the lower department as to the personnel of 
the pupils promoted, and as to the lesson material 
they have covered, is often helpful, although 
some teachers prefer not to know the previous 
bad record of pupils. They feel that the pupil 
may make a new start under new conditions, and 
that at any rate they will be less prejudiced and 
more able to give him a fairer chance, if they are 
not acquainted with his past reputation. 

ALLOW FOR PECULIARITIES 

Some allowance must be made for passing 
moods in the mind of the growing pupil. The 
youth has come to school fresh from other con- 
tacts. Perhaps the situation at home, or the as- 
sociation he has just had with companions, has 
depressed or elated him. His own bodily life is 
subject to fluctuations in energy. At times he is 
so buoyant that he can scarcely be kept down by 
restraint, and at other times he is sunken so low 
that he can scarcely be upheld by encouragement. 
The two extremes may manifest themselves in the 
same class on the same day. The exuberant 
youths will be tempted to riotous expression and 



204 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

desire, while the more quiet boys will sit and 
sulk. The teacher must recognize this variability 
of mood as a fact to be expected and studied, and 
as something for which allowance must be made. 
You must expect considerable diversity of in- 
stinct, training, character, and habits in your 
pupils. They bring these habits with them from 
earlier years, from the home, or worse, from the 
street. You cannot expect to chip off a habit by 
a single stroke. You must not be discouraged, if, 
even after long and patient effort, you seem to be 
lacking in success. Keep right on with the train- 
ing, if you feel your method is right, and will 
bring about proper adjustment. Make great al- 
lowance when your scholars fail to cast away the 
old habits. Think of your own difficulties in 
changing your habits. It is not easy for any one 
to throw off the old man and put on the new. 

A BAD INTENTION 

If the will and intention of the scholar are not 
good, external correction will not reach the evil. 
A selfish boy, a proud boy, a sensual boy, a de- 
ceptive boy, a boy who loves vulgarity, a self- 
assertive boy, is not going to be cured by a few 
commands from you. 

You should decide early as to what you are go- 
ing to do with the self-assertive boy. He is likely 
to be so persistent, impetuous, and stormy, that 
he may wreck the happiness of the class. If he 



THE TEACHER'S INFLUENCE 205 

is a born leader, he may carry the others with 
him in whatever policy he pursues. You can 
crush him openly, and this may be necessary, if 
nothing else is possible; but if you can reason 
with him confidentially, and privately, in such 
way as to open his eyes to the rashness of his 
course, or if you can gain a hold upon his affec- 
tions, and appeal and persuade him to assist you 
in your effort, you will thereafter have at your 
command, in him, a great source of energy for 
service in the welfare of the whole class. It is 
sometimes the best material that the hasty teacher 
consigns to the Sunday-School junk pile. 

CULTIVATE INFLUENCE 

Your personal influence will count for much. 
If your scholars admire and trust you, they will 
almost blindly follow and defend you. On the 
other hand, if they dislike and distrust you from 
the start, you will be unable to stimulate them 
into the right paths, and your work will be up- 
hill. The class will withhold its co-operation. 
What you suggest will be met with a chilly re- 
sponse, and whatever you attempt will be left for 
you to carry out by yourself, and with the con- 
sciousness that it will be a failure. 

Try very hard to get and maintain the good- 
will of your class, to be able to direct their en- 
thusiasm, to enter into and enjoy their social life, 
and to become a leader to whom they will look 



206 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

up. There must be some class-spirit in your 
members, of which you should be the center. 
This spirit is different from the mind of any 
single member, and flows forth from the spirits 
of all. It is like a rising tide which will carry 
you over many rocks of difficulty, and which will 
move on steadily after the first cataracts and 
rapids and shallows are passed, and will easily 
bear your fleet of vessels on its broad bosom into 
the safety of the deep sea. 

In the limited period allotted to work with the 
class, the good teacher will often find himself 
unable to cover the whole lesson assigned. This 
should not discourage him. The successful 
teacher is imparting more than merely the lesson, 
He is doing more than training his scholars in a 
method. He is giving them a spiritual insight, 
and one point well gained will be worth more 
than many pages hurried over, to reach the end 
in the time assigned. 

CONTROL YOURSELF 

The teacher's psychic and emotional attitude, 
and his control of himself in the class, is impor- 
tant. He should afford the scholars a constant 
example of reasonable self-control and good 
judgment. He should not indulge in outbursts 
of impatience, or appear to be provoked. He 
should not be given to the utterance of snap judg- 
ments, and his use of language, while it may be 



THE TEACHER'S INFLUENCE 207 

very simple, should be free from that common- 
place colloquialness which sacrifices his dignity, 
and the scholars' high valuation of the teacher as 
an ideal before his eyes. He should himself be a 
worthy exemplar toward which the mind of the 
scholar may strive. 

GETTING THE SCHOLARS CO-OPERATION IN WORK 

One of the worst drags in a new class is the 
habit of mental indolence on the part of a ma- 
jority of the class, and their unwillingness to be 
mentally industrious. It always is easy to pro- 
crastinate in Sunday-School work. When there 
is no compulsion, and not even any pressure in 
the right direction, it is difficult to get scholars to 
give serious attention to the lesson. This is still 
more difficult when there is an exciting counter- 
attraction. The mischief -making and reactionary 
element in the class, or in surrounding classes, 
will be sure to discover, if not to provide, some 
such extra and disturbing allurement. 

In time, this will become exceedingly annoy- 
ing, and a teacher of high-strung and nervous 
disposition, though he bear up in silence for a 
while, or attempt at various times to check the 
affair, is pretty sure to reach some climax of irri- 
tation, from which his vials of indignation will be 
poured forth upon the offending class — which, 
of course, is just what the class enjoys, and is 
interpreted by the mischief-makers as a great vic- 
tory on their part. 



208 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

It is a sad fact that in many classes the scholars 
believe it their right to choose, or at least to veto, 
the teacher's choice of method to be pursued in 
instruction. Often the lesson is so little appreci- 
ated and the scholar is so independent as to in- 
telligent participation, and as to absenting him- 
self, that the teacher will be unable to proceed 
with the good will of his pupils, and without 
secret rebellion, if he choose a method which 
the scholars feel to be repugnant. So disinclined 
are scholars to exertion, and so little value do 
parents and pupils apparently place upon Sunday- 
School instruction, that any method which in- 
volves thought and work for the scholar, will 
almost be sure to meet opposition, or at least 
sullenness in the class. 

Some time ago an excellent teacher was given 
charge of an old-established class in a highly 
respectable congregation. He inquired what 
method the former teacher had pursued. He 
was told that the teacher talked and explained 
the lesson while the scholars listened. The new 
teacher said, "Do you not think it would be well, 
if, in addition to explanation, I were to ask you 
some questions ?" The scholars said, "No." Their 
former teacher had never asked any questions 
and they preferred the method of the former 
teacher. The teacher said, "But I think you will 
learn more if you are asked a few questions, and 
I shall give you several questions which you can 



THE TEACHER'S INFLUENCE 209 

look up for me at home and give the answers 
when you come next Sunday." When next Sun- 
day came, every member of the class was absent. 
It is a typical instance. 

The fact is that, in some cases, the Sunday- 
School scholar does not want to be taught. The 
scholar does not come to school for the sake of 
the lesson. It is really a question whether the 
scholar is happy in going to school at all. The 
spirit of unrest, a desire for change, a wish for 
pleasure, a dissatisfaction with any school ar- 
rangements which do not involve continuous en- 
tertainment and novelty, places the Sunday- 
School teacher at a disadvantage. 

Therefore, one of the most fundamental parts 
of the work of the teacher is the cultivation of a 
power of self-control within the scholar of mere 
impulses toward entertainment and novelty. In 
short, the dependence that seemed natural to the 
scholar in his earlier years has vanished, and he 
is passing into those ideas and feelings of youth 
that inspire a sense of independence. He likes to 
do as he pleases, and believes this to be his in- 
alienable right, on which no school may infringe. 

But if he have a teacher to whom he is at- 
tracted, and who can inspire in him higher ideals 
and sentiments, and whose administration of the 
class is strictly just, and heartily sympathetic, the 
scholar will probably rise out of his crude sense 
of personal rights to that higher point of culture 



210 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

in which it is a pleasure to be directed and gov- 
erned by those who know better. The teacher 
should have confidence in her power to reach the 
pupil by inspiration, and to place a beautiful and 
exalted vision before his eyes to which his soul 
will respond. It has well been said that, "Youth 
has no fear in attempting the difficult, and even 
the impossible." After you have inspired a boy's 
faith, and presented to him some noble vision of 
attainment, his ambition to realize it by per- 
sistent effort, is truly touching. The Boy Scout 
movement understands this trait in youth, and 
uses it. 

A prominent member of the American Civic 
Association, in speaking of what it is possible to 
accomplish through the co-operation of youth, 
has said: "If you desire enthusiasm, go to the 
children; if you wish a changed condition of af- 
fairs, get the child's co-operation." 

Reformers nowadays take all sorts of move- 
ments to the children of the land in the public 
schools. And if the efficient activity of children 
is required in civil affairs, surely its potency 
should not be overlooked by the Sunday- School 
teacher, whose very aim is to inspire and direct 
the highest springs of budding energy in the 
child. 

In the long run, habit counts for much in your 
class. If you can succeed in getting the class to 
work from habit, you will have accomplished 



THE TEACHER'S INFLUENCE 211 

much. The youth is not afraid of effort, pro- 
vided that his interest is deep and his enthusiasm 
is stirred. If you are too easy and yielding at 
the beginning, your whole effort with the class 
will degenerate into what Prof. James has called 
"soft pedagogics." 

Do not forget that the pupil has a conscience. 
Try to find it and properly touch it. You often 
can bring your lens to the burning point by 
quietly focusing its rays on the pupil's conscience. 
Scholars are keenly interested in rights and 
wrongs, and may enter into a lively discussion. 
Through such a discussion, if it arise out of the 
heart of the lesson, and not out of a fault-finding 
and scolding proclivity on your part, they may be 
stimulated to a better practice. You can do much 
for the scholar by putting his mind in a position 
where it will discover, as a result of its own in- 
sight, the folly of a foolish choice. 

INFLUENCING THE SCHOLAR'S HABITS 

We have been speaking of the teacher's mould- 
ing influence on the habits of the class. Accord- 
ing to Prof. James, education is "the organiza- 
tion of acquired habits of conduct and tendencies 
to behavior." In the face of contrary tendencies 
acquired in the home and the day school, the 
teacher may find difficulty in organizing perma- 
nent habits of conduct. Yet he can lead the 
scholar to reason out, on his own account, the 



212 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

wisdom or the folly of particular lines of action. 
He can stimulate his power of observation and 
reflection concerning habits. He can awaken a 
desire for refined and gentle manners. He can, 
through his use of language, create an admiration 
for correctness and precision of speech, and he 
can impart an atmosphere of reverence for the 
unseen realities, for the Lord and Saviour of 
Men, for God the Father, for the Church, among 
even the dullest of his class. 

At a certain age, the springs of character are 
in the pupils' feelings. The teacher has no more 
important work than to stimulate healthy feel- 
ings, and a continuous interest in the attainment 
of high ideals. To one pupil this stimulus must 
come through congenial and active work. The 
open door to another may be a clear explanation 
of the problems and difficulties over which he has 
been puzzling. It will be possible to appeal to 
another through the gateway of his tastes. In 
all cases there should be consideration for the 
scholar's individuality and an open eye for the 
doorway through which a successive appeal can 
be made. Do no violence to the scholar's pre- 
dominant characteristics. Otherwise you may 
cut off development, and arouse antagonism. 

CULTIVATE AN INSPIRING PURPOSE 

The teacher's personality, as well as the 
scholar's, counts for much. A person may know 



THE TEACHER'S INFLUENCE 213 

all the principles of teaching, says Dr. Mc- 
Conaughy, and yet be a failure as a teacher ; an- 
other person may be almost uneducated and yet 
be a real success in the Sunday-School. "Many 
of us know teachers who never even heard about 
lesson planning, and yet have deeply influenced 
the young people in their classes. Perhaps all 
men and women look back to such teachers as 
the greatest force for moulding their characters 
that they have ever experienced. Teaching is a 
deeply personal concern, where character and 
ideals count even more than pedagogical skill." 

Dr. McConaughy emphasizes the cultivation of 
the right personality as the teacher's most im- 
portant concern. He says, "If our pupils are to 
learn of Christ through us, we must be sure that 
we really know Him ourselves — that we have 
been saved from sin by His death on the cross, 
and are kept from falling into sin by the help 
which He daily gives us." 

He alludes to the spirit that the pupils imbibe 
from their teacher. "When we are influenced by 
a person whom we admire, we unconsciously imi- 
tate his thoughts, attitude and habits. This is 
the supreme opportunity for the Sunday- School 
teacher." He deprecates Sunday-School teachers 
whose ideals are simply to "keep the Sunday- 
School going," to "keep my class quiet," to "keep 
my girls from dropping out," to "keep my boys 
from playing ball on Sunday." 



214 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

He suggests that many of us owe what we are 
today largely to the inspiration of a long-suffer- 
ing teacher during the restless and troublesome 
Sunday-School period of our youth. He urges 
that the teacher's ideal be nothing short of bring- 
ing the pupil to Christ as Saviour and Lord, of 
encouraging public confession of Him and 
growth in His likeness by following His example 
in service. Ideals are worth little, says he, unless 
they are high enough to seem impossible of ac- 
complishment. "Those who aim low have never 
moved the world; those who aim high have had 
to fall back on God's inexhaustible strength." 

TRAINING INTO DISCIPLESHIP 

Here we come upon the great difference be- 
tween a scholar and disciple. A scholar is seek- 
ing for facts in the highways and byways of lit- 
erature. A disciple places himself under the in- 
struction and influence of a master, whom he 
trusts, and to whom he looks up as to an ideal, 
and who will mould his soul and character into a 
habitude of perfect life. 

The scholar aims at knowledge, the disciple 
looks for spiritual culture which takes possession 
of the inner man. In the one case, the object is 
truth for its own sake. In the other, the object 
is truth in the service of personality. 

Our Lord trained the Twelve into discipleship, 
and it should be our ideal to make our scholars 



THE TEACHER'S INFLUENCE 215 

His true and devoted disciples. Discipleship in- 
volves training and correction. Ordinarily pupils 
do not enjoy being taught discipline. Knowledge 
satisfies their mental longings, the curiosity of 
the intellect, and is therefore a pleasure. Dis- 
cipline fatigues the soul and becomes a cross. 
The teacher's influence will do more than any- 
thing else to aid that slow growth of spiritual 
strength which ends in devotion and self -sur- 
render. 

Bright minds crave for and enjoy the "inspira- 
tional lecture" which often is little more than 
stuffing the mind with sugar plums prepared by 
experts and sweetened to taste. It may create an 
appetite for intellectual dissipation. On the other 
hand, the co-ordinating of the spiritual nature 
and will of the pupil to a prompt and whole- 
souled response to spiritual truth, is a more diffi- 
cult thing. The spiritual interests of the child 
are not always those things that command the 
interest of the child. The apparent tastes of the 
pupil are an unsafe guide. 

President Hadley, of Yale University, has told 
us that the current practice of making informa- 
tion take the place of discipline "is a menace to 
our national life for a generation to come." "As 
a preparation for the school of national politics, 
ten hours of training in civics are not the equiva- 
lent of one minute of training in order and 
obedience." 



216 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

Growth in the spiritual life of the pupil is the 
main thing. It is the teacher's work to guide him 
into the saving truths of the Bible. This often 
comes most effectively through a presentation of 
the facts, but the main thing is to train a devoted 
heart into a few fundamentals. This is the glory 
of our living catechism. It is a personal book, 
and not an exposition of abstract doctrine. It 
applies Christian faith in a concrete way to the 
actual life of a scholar. It is the great training 
book of the Church. President Hadley asks all 
teachers to be true to their primary duty of edu- 
cating their scholars into a strength to pursue the 
truth and a determination to stand by it under all 
conditions. 

FELLOWSHIP 

The center of a teacher's influence lies in the 
fellowship of master and pupil, in a participation 
in common ideals, joys and sorrows. Both are 
alike subject to the great principles of faith, and 
both are sharing spontaneously in the develop- 
ment of the inner life. Questions of intellect 
give way to realities of the soul. The genuine 
personality makes itself felt freely and with 
strong power of upbuilding. 

Christ in us shines out in our deeds. It thus 
calls forth active love and loyalty in the pupil. 
The selfish center has been displaced. A new and 
spontaneous relation to authority has been estab- 
lished. Doubt disappears. The non-committal 



THE TEACHER'S INFLUENCE 217 

attitude vanishes. The bonds of reality hold 
pupil and teacher together. They gather around 
our Lord and listen to His Word. "If ye abide 
in My Word, ye are My disciples indeed." 

Thus the sum and substance of the Gospel is 
taken into the scholar's soul, and it transforms 
him into an ardent believer and willing follower 
of the Lord. The teacher has not merely given 
information as to the literary character and origin 
of the various writings of the Bible, but through 
his message has trained the pupil into a disciple 
and has built up an active and devoted Church 
membership. 

INFLUENCE OF A TEACHER'S EXTERNAL BEARING 

Dr. McConaughy, whom we have already 
quoted, gives a few hints as to the externals of a 
teacher's bearing as they are calculated to influ- 
ence the class. He says, "The wise teacher mod- 
ulates the voice, keeps it, as far as possible, at a 
conversational pitch, avoids high, harsh tones, 
and speaks distinctly. He knows that the face is 
the window of the soul and so he has learned 
the value of a smile of appreciation, and of a 
general look of happiness. He knows that his 
manners are on exhibition. He tries to see that 
his movements are not hurried, that his clothes 
are not so striking as to attract attention. 

"Be sure to justify the claim that you are a 
gentleman or a lady. A nervous teacher makes 



218 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

a nervous, unattentive class. A teacher solves 
the problem of maintaining order by constant in- 
terest in each pupil, keeping each one engaged, 
and relying less upon coercion than upon incen- 
tives to right conduct; he develops a class con- 
sciousness that makes its pupils proud that their 
class has the best attendance of the department; 
above all, he never commits the fatal mistake of 
losing his temper, no matter how vexatious the 
situation. While such a teacher may be a rarity, 
each can strive to become more like this ideal. 

"A teacher's attitude toward the class, limits 
or increases his influence over them. One teacher 
expects a class to misbehave and not to know 
their lesson ; usually the expectation proves true. 
Another shows faith in the class ; appeals to them 
positively, not negatively; sees each good thing 
they do, and judiciously praises it, minimizing 
failures. He says, 'we/ not 'y° u / and 'our class/ 
He respects each pupil's individuality and ac- 
knowledges the pupil's right to differ from the 
teacher on certain points. He does not claim 
complete knowledge and is eager to learn with 
the class. He is absolutely sincere, and strives 
to be the friend of each pupil." 

THE TEACHER'S TRAINING AND INFLUENCE 

1. Training the Child Just Promoted. 

2. Helping It to Study. 

3. Acquiring Control of a New Class. 

4. The Scholar That Will Not Respond. 



THE TEACHER'S INFLUENCE 219 

5. Do Not Expect Too Much. 

6. Consult the Scholar's Former Teacher. 

7. The Scholars Have Moods. 

8. Their Instincts, Training, Character and Habits 
Are Diverse. 

9. The Scholar With Bad Intention. 

10. Personal Influence. 

11. Maintaining the Good Will of the Class. 

12. Failing to Cover the Whole Lesson. 

13. The Teacher's Manner. 

14. Mental Indolence and Mischief in the Class. 

15. The Teacher's Reaction. 

16. The Scholars' View of Their Rights. 

17. The Scholar Who Does Not Want to Be Taught 

18. Reaching the Scholar by Inspiration. 

19. Getting the Co-operation of the Class. 

20. Getting Them to Work by Habit. 

21. Touching the Conscience. 

22. Influencing the Judgment. 

23. The Habits of Home and Street. 

24. Working Through the Scholar's Feelings. 

25. The Teacher's Influence. 

26. The Teacher's Ideal. 

27. Training Into Discipleship. 

28. The Inspirational Lecture. 

29. Growth in Spiritual Life and Character. 

30. Gained Through Common Sharing of Interest. 

31. Active Love and Loyalty the Chief Motive. 

32. Details of the Teacher's Influence. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
The Advice of an Old Teacher of Boys 

Get into touch with the parents. You will have 
your ups and downs in trying to do this. Some 
parents will ignore your request for co-opera- 
tion.* Others will promise, but fail to give it. 
Some will show wounded pride and disappoint- 
ment that their children are not perfect and ideal 
in all respects. Some will try to patronize you, 
and as soon as you get down to actual facts, their 
sensitiveness will be stirred. Some will blame the 
Church or the School on the score of old grudges, 
and others will make you feel unaccountably 
small. 

The first job for you in class is to set up in 
your scholars' minds a regular standard of work. 
When pupils try to justify themselves for neglect- 
ing it, and especially when they argue with you 
at the expense of truth and good manners, you 
often can touch their sense of honesty by a heart- 
searching look, or by a harmless shaft of humor. 

Even before this, and always, "Win the boy." 
When he fails and is depressed, let your heart be 
touched. Say to him, "You go off tomorrow, 
and have a good game, and then you will feel 
better and more like turning a new leaf." 

Have a heart for youthful sinners. Never 

* Compare Chapter II on this subject. 
220 



ADVICE OF A TEACHER OF BOYS 221 

grow tired of suggesting a fresh start. Send 
your boy on his way with a bounding heart by 
the pressure of a friendly hand, or a quick glance 
of true encouragement. Handle your class with 
little or no formal punishment. Just check them. 
Prevention is better than cure. 

Teach the class to regard public disobedience 
or trickery as treachery. Hold high before the 
pupil the standard of righteousness; and though 
he often may dishonor it, its beauty and its power 
will bring him back. 

Cultivate personal attachment. If you do, 
your pupils will become your champions, and will 
feel as though they were willing to die for you. 
When you rebuke, try to set the offense in a new 
light, and if the culprits acknowledge their mis- 
deed, dismiss the subject forever with the re- 
mark, "Now you have done the honorable thing." 

Instil honor into the pupils' minds. Have them 
feel that it is right not only to confess mistakes 
and misdeeds, but also to take their punishment 
in manly fashion- Vary your method of hand- 
ling disorders. It may be wise to await an op- 
portunity to meet the ringleader casually and by 
himself and quietly speak to him. At other times 
you may have to face the whole mob and say, 
"This is not to happen again." Be easy with 
your pupils, and let them feel free and comfort- 
able, but be inflexible about their not overstepping 
the bounds. Vigilance is the price of order. 



222 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

Look for the leaders of the class. Get them to 
like you and win them to co-operation with your 
plans. Keep them busy and they will have no 
time to become leaders of misrule. When you 
have a stupid boy, out of whom you can get 
nothing, just love him. 

Do not allow members of the class to blame or 
tell tales on one another. And when, in rare 
cases, they are asked a direct question, try not 
to have them refrain from telling the facts be- 
cause of a false sense of honor. This must not 
be a frequent occurrence. 

Make much of the presence of the dear 
Saviour. Have the class desire to appear well in 
His eye. Magnify the fact that He is their true 
Friend and has always loved them. Fill them 
with zeal to be in His service. 

Do not cherish self-pride. A teacher should 
learn to be disobeyed without showing resentment 
or falling into despair. 

Cultivate a high ideal of inner strength among 
boys. Without alluding to it, do not countenance 
rude and evil speaking. Discourage them from 
applauding those who are mean and tricky in 
their sports. Teach the boy to learn to bear de- 
feat gracefully, and to scorn an advantage won 
by the sacrifice of truth, courtesy and honor. 

Get the scholars to feel that trifling and self- 
indulgence are out of place. Discourage the eat- 
ing of sweetmeats and the habit of chewing gum. 



ADVICE OF A TEACHER OF BOYS 223 

Do not simply tell your boys how to do things, 
but by getting them to actually undertake the 
deeds, help to mould the quality of the deeds. 

At the risk of repeating some things said in the 
earlier parts of this book, let me close this chap- 
ter with a few words on the teacher's aim. It is 
to reach into the scholar's heart and the will, to 
open his eye to sin and salvation, to draw the soul 
to the Saviour, to train the child of heaven to a 
steady and reliable response to the love of God. 

The knowledge we have to impart is a living 
and eternal thing. It is our own deepest hold 
upon Christ. It has transformed our thought 
and soul. It is not an easy, comprehensive phil- 
osophy of religion, which enables a man to think 
and explain truth apart from its influence on 
oneself. It takes its hold on others because it 
has taken hold on us. To teach religion by me- 
chanical methods, treating the pupils as "little 
empty vessels waiting for the knowledge 'to be 
poured in/ " is not religious instruction at all. 

What we wish to impress in its fullness is, "I 
am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; 
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life 
which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith 
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Him- 
self for me." 

This life eternal cannot be implanted by me- 
chanical process. It is imparted in a thousand 
ways by personal contact. Our Lord, when He 



224 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

began to teach, did not sit down and write a book. 
He did not formulate laws and rules. He did 
not discourse on moral truths. He simply gave 
the people Himself, He gave them all that was 
in Him. 

This is true teaching, giving the scholar your- 
self. When the sunlight of the Christ in you 
shines upon the scholar, it will have a vital effect. 
You will shine as an ideal before his mind and 
soul. You will become an influence. The influ- 
ence which you impart will not be the result of 
intellectual questioning, of disciplinary drill, nor 
the mere effect of subject matter taught. You 
will be masterful in what you do. You will 
set your pupil afire. You will lift duty to a 
thing of delight. You will awaken in the one 
sitting at your feet an unquenchable fountain of 
desire to be the greatest and best man pos- 
sible. By your purity of life, by your courage 
and fearlessness, by your self-control, tenderness 
and patience, by your bringing to view the foun- 
tains of power and the streams of strength that 
never run dry, you will become a blessing indeed 
to your pupils. The freshness and the signifi- 
cance of your life will hold them in its spell. 
With allegiance that is whole-souled and intense 
they will follow you in your work in the school 
room. You will not need to resort to artificial 
inducements. 

They will feel that the doors of their life have 



ADVICE OF A TEACHER OF BOYS 225 

opened wider after their period of communion 
with you. The time-worn routine and the in- 
tolerable dullness of the old-fashioned school will 
be a thing of the past. Both your kindness and 
your severity will be a tonic. You will have 
thrown around your little circle what Carlyle de- 
clares to be "that mystic bond of brotherhood 
making all men one." 

You will have put a certain personal touch into 
their soul-life which to them is the essence of 
power and satisfaction. You will have shown 
them a kindred nature which mingles with their 
own. It is said that Mozart was so dependent 
upon sympathy that he neither composed or exe- 
cuted his musical compositions unless he felt he 
would be appreciated by those to whom he was 
appealing. The child-like heart is infinitely sensi- 
tive to the vibration of outside joys and sorrows. 
If you have captured it for the Lord Jesus, you 
are a teacher after His own heart. 

Put some little joy into your work. A hearty 
child is a joyful being, tingling with joy as with 
fulness of life. Health is an unconscious joy. 
"Life itself, clear of all hindrance and disease, 
is an essentially joyous power. Boundless are 
the waves of joy, beating against the billows of 
sorrow, even in this world beneath. We look 
upon the creatures of life as they breathe and 
feed, and grow ; as they climb, or leap, or fly, or 
sing; and take them all together as the happy 



226 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

creatures of Him Who hath Life in Himself, and 
sendeth out the pulses of His joy to throb in them 
all. The green-carpeted earth, the air scented 
by their odors, the very sky filled with their 
gambols, ring with music. A stately joy waves 
in the giant wood. Even the sands of the old 
continents tingle with the touch of joy." If this 
be so of the natural world, which groaneth in 
bondage, how much more is it not so of the 
world into which has entered "the Resurrection 
and the Life." The touch of a glad heart will 
sing its way into the scholar's soul. 

ADVICE OF AN OLD TEACHER OF BOYS 

1. Get Into Touch With the Parents. 

2. Set up a Regular Standard of Work. 

3. Win the Scholar. 

4. Prevent Disobedience. 

5. Cultivate Personal Attachment. 

6. Look for the Leaders Among the Class. 

7. The Ideals of the Class. 

8. The Teacher's Christian Aim. 

9. Teach by Giving the Scholars Yourself. 

10. The Effect of Such Teaching. 

11. Put Some Joy Into Your Work. 



CHAPTER XIX 

The Bible as a Text-Book 

i. For the Study of the Teacher 

I. WORD OF GOD 

In the Sunday-School, as we have seen, we 
are not getting information on the Bible chiefly 
as a book, as a piece of historical literature; but 
we are using the Bible as a living power, as God's 
Word, as the Word of Life. 

While a full and clear knowledge of the facts 
in the life of Christ and of all Biblical history is 
important, the chief purpose of the Bible is an 
implanting in the soul, through justification by 
faith and sanctification in the Holy Ghost, of 
salvation in Christ. 

We are not so much concerned with the fact 
that the Bible has built empires, that it has made 
heroes, that it has broken the chains of tyranny, 
that it has given rise to new and brilliant philoso- 
phies, that it is introducing religious liberty into 
the world, and has influenced art and letters, that 
it has evolved creeds, that it is full of powerful 
truths, that it has suppressed injustice, that it has 
freed man and woman from the chains of slavery, 
that it is the fountain of national life, that poets 
find in it their strongest imagery, that social re- 
227 



228 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

formers point back to Christ for the truth of their 
theories. 

What the Lord desires us to find in the Bible 
is not a record, or a series of documents, or a 
depository of truths, nor a treasure house of fine 
art and good morals, but God's powerful and 
living Word, which enters the soul, to bring to it 
repentance and faith, to transform it and to build 
it into Christ, so that His Church, and all the 
household of faith may be presented to Him 
faultless and without spot or wrinkle. Our use of 
the Bible is as an instrument for the application 
of saving life. 

II. THE VARIOUS BOOKS AND THEIR PARTS 

The Bible is composed of very many interre- 
lated parts. Even the smallest of these parts, 
e. g., the two words of Jesus, "Follow me," may 
have its own separate and specific spiritual use. 

Every scripture inspired of God is profitable 
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for in- 
struction which is in righteousness : that the man 
of God may be complete, furnished completely 
unto every good work. Thus the Bible as a 
whole consists of many scriptures, written by 
men who "spake from God, being moved by the 
Holy Ghost." Though it appeared at different 
times, in different countries, and came from per- 
sons in different conditions of life, there is an 
unusual consistency of thought in it. Its doc- 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 229 

trine or teaching is a unity. There is only one 
plan, which is progressively unfolded. All the 
books are parts of a symmetrical whole. Those 
of the Old Testament, as the history advances, 
grow more and more luminous with spiritual 
light, until they culminate in Christianity. The 
whole Bible is needed to properly understand any 
part. "Without appreciation of man's fall as 
narrated in Genesis, we cannot appreciate Cal- 
vary, and without the Cross we cannot under- 
stand the transgression." * 

Many truths in the Bible are repeated a num- 
ber of times. What is not clearly and promi- 
nently stated in one passage, because it may 
there be more incidental, may be fully explained 
in another. Thus the Gospels, read together, 
throw a full light on the life of Christ, omissions 
in one writer being supplied by the other writers, 
and new points of view appearing in every 
writer. Thus also the Epistles become a part of 
the real life of the Apostle Paul when read in 
the light of the Acts of the Apostles. Thus, fur- 
ther, the types and symbols of the Old Testament 
turn into the realities of the New, and the 
prophecies of the Old become facts in the New. 

"One inspiring mind runs through the whole. 
The volume is a structure, in which every part is 
complement to every other part. Genesis and 
Revelation are what Alpha and Omega are to 

*J. L. M. Curry in "Hints on Bible Study." 



230 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

the alphabet in which the New Testament was 
written. We lose vastly of the richness and the 
vitality of the Old Testament if we cherish less 
trust in it as the Word of God than we feel in the 
New. Then, as for the New Testament, we 
cannot fully understand its meaning if we do not 
understand the Old. Certain entire books in the 
two divisions are twin volumes. Each is essen- 
tial to the interpretation of the other. The 
Epistle to the Hebrews we cannot read aright 
without understanding the Book of Leviticus. 
The Book of the Revelation needs for its inter- 
pretation the Book of Daniel. We, perhaps, think 
that we all of us understand the Book of Psalms ; 
but certain of the Psalms of David were not, and 
could not be, fully understood till the Gospels 
were written. This unity of the volume as a 
structure, made up of interdependent parts, is a 
most vital principle in the true reading of it." * 

III. OUR OBJECT IN BIBLE STUDY 

The ultimate purpose of the study of this Bib- 
lical material is the search and rinding of such 
particular truth and its application as God would 
have the student gain from the book or passage 
under study. The teacher's purpose, according 
to Dr. Trumbull, is to bring forth from this 
treasure that which will "supply and nourish the 

* Dr. Austin Phelps in "Hints on Bible Study." John 
D. Wattles & Co., Philadelphia. 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 231 

children of the Kingdom." The Bible further 
treats of the Kingdom itself, of a new and truer 
order of social life than earth has as yet had and 
of the relations of regenerate men inside this 
society. 

Thus the teaching of the Bible is also sociologi- 
cal. The history of the Children of Israel as a 
society or state occupies the larger part of the 
Old Testament. The prophets of the Old Testa- 
ment "declare the intimate relation of society to 
God, Who stands with the plumb-line in His hand 
among the peoples" (R. E. Thompson). The 
Church which our Lord founded and which is to 
gather all nations into its membership, is the one 
universal, invisible brotherhood or society, which 
embraces humanity under one Head. "The Bible 
is broad as life, having, indeed, the same Author." 

IV. THE WAY TO STUDY THE BIBLE 

In studying it certain scholars, such as Dr. 
George B. Stevens,* recommend that we begin 
with some book of help, graphic and popular in 
style, that will introduce us into this great treas- 
ure house, or parts of it, and give us a general 
familiarity with its outlines. Other scholars take 
the opposite view. They maintain that the first 
step is to familiarize ourselves with the words 
and thought of the Bible itself by direct contact 
with it, and by making, from our own reading of 

* See "Hints on Bible Study." 



232 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

it, a working outline of the whole. Read it 
through thoughtfully. Analyze what you have 
read, and arrange its contents on paper. Do not 
ignore any of the thought, but get all of it. In 
a single passage, "try to understand just what 
the words of the passage mean, taken by them- 
selves; then look at parallel passages and refer- 
ences ; after that, if necessary, consult your Bible 
dictionary; then take the commentary you have 
found most trustworthy, and see how nearly right 
you are. Last of all, go to the helpful introduc- 
tory and more general books on the subject/' In 
consulting books of help do not get into the 
habit of searching for the practical lessons de- 
duced, without first carefully comprehending the 
facts and statements of the Scripture itself. 
People who ignore the historical truth for the 
sake of the spiritual truth, are in the wrong. As 
Prof. M. B. Riddell * says, "God would not have 
revealed Himself in act and fact, as He has done 
in Jesus Christ, if He did not intend us to study 
the facts of the Gospels as accurately, as scien- 
tifically, we may say, as we do the facts in 
nature." 

Dr. Austin Phelps emphasizes the necessity of 
a right spirit in Bible study. He says we need 
to bring to the Bible a predisposition to believe it. 
We need to come to the Bible in the spirit of 
learners desiring to be taught. We need to have 

* "Hints on Bible Study." 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 233 

confidence in it as the source of all the truth it 
was meant to teach. We must depend largely on 
the book itself for its own interpretation. We 
must learn to make Scripture interpret Scripture. 
"The Bible contains a vast fund of balanced 
truths. It abounds with truths which are oppo- 
sites without being contraries. 'Show me an old 
Bible, well thumbed, the margins of which are 
full of penciled references to parallel passages, 
and I know that it has been the comfort of some 
saint who became profound and comprehensive 
in his knowledge of the mind of God.' " We fur- 
ther need to have respect for those who have 
given much learning and thought to its meaning, 
and we need to pray for the illumination of the 
Holy Spirit Who inspired the Scriptures for our 
use. 

It is not necessary to be a master of technicali- 
ties, to gain a true knowledge of the Bible. Even 
those who can give to its study only a few min- 
utes at a time will get results for teaching. Se- 
lect one book. Note its general character, and 
make some informal plan as to the way in which 
you will master it. Try to grasp its course of 
thought given in the book itself. Then study its 
contents in relation to other Biblical books, in re- 
lation to religious truth or doctrine, and in rela- 
tion to experience and practical life. Seek for 
correlated passages often indicated on the mar- 
gins of your Bible, which will support and throw 



234 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

light upon one another. This is interpreting 
Scripture by Scripture. Do not be discouraged 
over difficult places. Even St. Peter tells us that 
he did not understand everything in the Epistles 
of St. Paul, "wherein are some things hard to be 
understood" (II Peter 3:16). 

The form in which the book is written has a 
bearing on its interpretation. Thus the book of 
Job is a drama, while that of Ruth is an idyl. 
Much of the Pentateuch consists of codes of 
law. The Psalms are songs and prayers. The 
Gospels are history. The Epistles combine an 
exposition of principles with exhortation at the 
close. 

Do not force any passage to suit your own 
views. Consider the passage in its connection. 
Compare it with other similar passages. Culti- 
vate spiritual sympathy with the Bible. Use 
common sense in coming to your conclusion. 

Commentaries are either chiefly historical; 
chiefly exegetical, seeking to bring the full mean- 
ing of the inspired words before the reader; or 
chiefly suggestive and practical, drawing infer- 
ences for our use in the spiritual life. Before 
buying a commentary, get clear as to the main 
purpose for which you intend to use it, whether, 
as Bishop Ellicott * says, it is to be "a giving of 
light to the mind, or a bringing of life to the 
soul." Choose your commentary according to 

* "Hints on Bible Study." 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 235 

your greatest need and purpose. Do not read it 
before you feel you need it. 

After you have satisfied yourself as to the 
meaning of a passage, look for the spiritual food 
for your pupils. Do not try to introduce instruc- 
tion on disputed questions into your class. It 
takes too much time, and usually the judgment 
of your scholars is not sufficiently mature to 
reach a proper self -thought-out conclusion in 
technical matters. Above all, come to your study 
of this great source of inspired truth in a teach- 
able spirit. 

2. Classification and Division of Bible Material 
for Sunday-School Use 
We have seen that the Bible is a vast body of 
literature, composed of many books, all these 
books containing many chapters. It can no more 
be taught or studied at one time, than could a 
man eat the whole wheat crop of Pennsylvania at 
one sitting. It is absolutely necessary, in order 
to make teaching at all possible, that the Bible 
material be divided. Moreover the Bible itself 
tells us that the instruction values of the passages 
in it are not equal. We can find milk in it for 
the children and meat for the full-grown and 
strong. For these reasons it is certainly neces- 
sary that there be intelligent selection and adapta- 
tion of the Bible material for purposes of in- 
struction. It further is evident that the Bible 



236 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

itself justifies the use of different parts of Scrip- 
ture for the less mature and for the more ma- 
ture. There is something in the Bible for every 
age and stage of development. It is the duty of 
the Church to find, arrange, and adapt the Scrip- 
ture material to most effective instruction. This 
will include, according to Prof. Coe in his work 
on "Education in Religion and Morals" (p. 109), 
"in addition to simplification, the adjustment of 
the subject matter to the various stages of devel- 
opment, and the adjustment of method to the 
characteristic mental standpoint at each stage." 

No complete, perfect and final division of the 
vast subject matter to be taught has ever been 
arrived at. From the spiritual point of view of 
God's own purpose in giving us the Bible, and 
from the point of view of directness and sim- 
plicity, Martin Luther's catechism stands in the 
first rank as a practical summary of the Gospel 
of Jesus Christ. Many efforts have been made 
by educators to divide and systematize the Bib- 
lical material into effective portions for continu- 
ous and progressive instruction in the school, and 
various methods have been employed for classify- 
ing the material. 

The Bible contains over a million words. In 
the size of this book, it would fill 4400 pages. To 
complete the study of it in fifty-two Sundays 
would require the teacher's covering over 80 
pages every Sunday. It is an impossible task. 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 237 

He could not even read the text to the class, to 
say nothing of explanation. Hence not only divi- 
sion, but selection of the material must be made. 
On what principles shall the selection be made? 
Not all the parts are equally important. Some 
are more vital at one period in the scholar's life, 
and some at another. A good workman or 
teacher is he who rightly divides the Word of 
Truth. Any good method of classification has 
three qualities, viz., importance of the material, 
orderliness of sequence, and advance in develop- 
ment. 

How did the Church divide the Scripture for 
teaching in its schools? 

I. TRUTHS AND HISTORY 

The Protestant Reformers, who translated the 
Scriptures into popular language and made it a 
people's book, divided it into history and doc- 
trine. They taught the former in Bible histories, 
and the latter in the catechisms. In other words, 
they laid main emphasis on the substance of the 
Bible, on the facts and on the truths, and re- 
garded this as more important for the scholar 
than giving attention to the literary form and 
structure of the material. 

II. COLLECTIONS OF IMPORTANT TEXTS 

In the eighteenth century, text-books contained 
a treasury of the most important and inspiring 



238 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

passages for committing to memory, and small 
cards with memory verses for distribution to the 
pupils, came into current use. 

III. QUESTION BOOKS 

In the early part of the nineteenth century, the 
question form, which originally was applied in 
the catechism to the truths or doctrines of Scrip- 
ture, began to be used for the teaching of the 
history also, and small question books, com- 
pactly covering the history of the Bible in ques- 
tion and answer, appeared. 

IV. LESSON LEAVES, ETC. 

After the middle of the century came the 
method of printing a single carefully selected 
section or passage, or certain number of verses, 
from the Scripture itself, with explanations and 
comments, in the form known as lesson leaves. 
Pocket editions of single books of the Bible, with 
brief notes, for the use of scholars in Sunday- 
School, also appeared. 

In the twentieth century, and at the present 
time, although lesson leaves are still in partial 
use, the plan of grading the material according 
to the needs of the scholar has become most 
prominent, and various "graded systems,'' be- 
ginning with the more simple and childlike facts 
and truths, and rising in the higher grades to a 
more detailed and complex study, have become 
numerous. 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 239 

A multitude of publications for all sorts of 
purposes, and from every possible point of view, 
frequently in compact form, are now being pub- 
lished for the use of the Sunday-School teacher. 
The chief difficulty of the school and of the 
teacher is to reach a right principle of selection, 
and amid the great volume of literature that con- 
stantly appears, to find that which will be con- 
tributory to the work under the plan that has been 
selected. 

j. Limits of Use of the Material in the Allotted 
Time 
The greatest difficulty in teaching the Scripture 
in Sunday-School is to use the small amount of 
time assigned for this purpose most advantage- 
ously, without crowding too much material into 
it on the one hand, and without trifling with the 
work on the other. To this difficulty is added 
that of keeping up the connection in the mind of 
the scholar, after an interval and a break of 
seven days. Hence the necessity of definitely 
marking out for at least a year in advance the 
quantity of lesson material to be used, and the 
assigning of it in suitable portions, a part for 
every Sunday, to the teacher and his class. The 
danger is that the lesson will include too much, 
or not enough. In the one case the teacher will 
become crowded for time, and in the other he 
will not use the time profitably, and hence not 



240 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

make progress. Few teachers have vim and 
strength enough to mark out their own lessons 
Sunday after Sunday, when the quantity assigned 
in the textbook does not fit to the amount of time 
at their disposal and to the ability of the class. 

4. Order in the Use of the Material 
This order must be fixed in advance, and un- 
derstood by all. Otherwise no preparation of the 
lesson would be possible, and no regular progress 
would be manifest. Order is the fixed mechan- 
ism of method. Wherever there is common ac- 
tion, there must be an accepted common order. 
Its mechanism is as needful in the school room 
as on the pianoforte, though equally painful in 
both, if it obtrude itself. 

Order is not the law of stagnation, but of life. 
The eye of the poet has seen this. "The days 
and years, the moon and tides, the mornings and 
evenings, the eclipses and even wandering comets, 
have their times exactly set, and their rounds 
exactly measured. We can make up their al- 
manac for the most distant ages and cycles. What 
we call the almanac is an exhibition to the eye of 
the grand principles of routine in nature. So far 
the vast empire of being is grounded in a sub- 
lime principle of routine everywhere manifest ; 
it is ordained for signs, and for seasons, and for 
days and years. And without this, or apart from 
this it would be only a medley of confusion, a 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 241 

chaos of interminable disorder. What could we 
do in a world where there are no appointed times, 
no calculable recurrences, no grand punctualities, 
where the seasons are moved in different orders 
of successions, days and nights coming at ran- 
dom, and staying for such time as they please, 
the heavenly bodies a chapter of celestial acci- 
dents in their motions, the moon quartering once 
a month, or ten times a month, the tides rising 
with or without the moon, the dews falling on the 
snows, and the snows on the verdure of June — 
such a world would really be valueless ; we could 
do nothing with it, and simply because it has no 
fixed times. And for just this reason God has 
consented to inaugurate the sublime routine neces- 
sary to its uses, determining the times before ap- 
pointed, and the bounds of our habitation. 

"And so very close does God come to us in 
this matter of times or of natural routine, that 
our heart beats punctually in it, our breath heaves 
in it like the panting tides of the ocean, and the 
body itself, and with it also the mind, yes, even 
the mind, is a daysman only in its power, a 
creature of walking and sleeping, of alternating 
consciousness and unconsciousness, like the solar 
day and night of the world." * 

If order is heaven's first law, why should the 
teaching in our schools be orderless ? Should our 
Church schools indeed have less order in their 

* Hill, "Geometry and Faith." 



242 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

system than the common schools of the land? 
Are the fields of Scripture the one place where 
there are "no appointed times, no calculable re- 
currences, no grand punctualities," where the 
days and the nights, the beginnings and the end- 
ings, the goals and the first principles come 
largely at random? 

Periodicity and progress, law and life, metes 
and bounds, grades and growth through them, 
are healthy laws in the spiritual, no less than in 
the natural world. Let us teach the babe, teach 
the child, teach the youth, teach the man, teach 
the sage, till each and all be filled with the full- 
ness of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
Who is all and in all. 

5. Use of the Material in Connection with the 
Christian Year 
The Christian Year connects the "days of our 
life" with Christ. It reclaims and reconstitutes 
time and nature for Christ. It subordinates and 
consecrates the seasons with all their variety and 
beauty of change to the service of Christ. It in- 
troduces a world-order of days and weeks based 
not on the old Roman war-god Janus (January), 
but on Him Who was "before all worlds," and 
Who has redeemed us and made our life worth 
while. The Christian year, so to say, sanctifies 
our time. It is a silent and constant witness 
against the inroads of secularity in American life. 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 243 

For Sunday-School and for the study of Scrip- 
ture, the important thing is that the Church 
Year opens up times and a regular and widely 
recognized order for our growth in Christ. It 
puts a heavenly order into our religious life, re- 
places a secular and subjective mechanism of 
order with one that is Christian and divine. It 
gives every important item in God's saving Word 
a special time and place. It rescues salvation 
from our feelings whether they are apathetic, or 
going on a rampage, and gives us a simple plan 
for piety and devotion. We hear so much of the 
value of systems in business and in study, in the 
formation of character, and in personal habits of 
life, in college curriculums, and in clearing-house 
accounts, that it seems odd that up-to-date Chris- 
tians should fail to appreciate the value of proper 
system in our spiritual thought, and to build up 
spiritual truth and life. 

I. THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 

Do not believe that the Christian Year is a fig- 
ment of Romanism ; that it is dead formalism ; 
that it interferes with liberty and spontaneity; 
that preaching should be on the spur of the mo- 
ment; that teaching should be without connec- 
tion of preceding and succeeding events, and 
without relation to the predominant thought and 
festival feeling of the day. The Church Year is 
a living cycle, a circle of life which feeds God's 



244 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

complete Gospel into the frame of our days, and 
enables us to grow progressively rather than spo- 
radically in truth and grace. 

In the Church Year there is a time for every- 
thing. The advantage of good order is gained. 
One does not depend upon chance, upon recent 
experiences of a teacher's mind, upon the plan- 
ning of a committee, or upon an individual sys- 
tem of our own, in order to make progress. The 
Church Year is a Church system. It introduces 
order in place of confusion. 

In the Church Year everything comes in its 
suitable time, in its expected relations, in its nat- 
ural proportion, as a part by itself, and as a part 
of the whole. There is a continuity of impres- 
sions, a progressively developing emphasis on 
the great facts in the life and death of Christ, 
and the great facts in conversion, justification 
and sanctification, which cannot be secured by a 
passing schedule of lessons. Each thing is com- 
plete as a part, and each thing has the advantage 
of being seen in its connection, and the relations 
are hallowed by the sacred atmosphere that 
breathes through the whole. We not only study 
a truth, but we live it. The season of the year 
reminds us of the truth, and the oftener we pass 
through the years, as we grow older, the more 
forcible is the seasonable reminder. 

The order of the Church Year is the natural 
order of the Christian life. It is the atmosphere 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 245 

of salvation, of faith and peace and joy and hope, 
in which we live and have our being. It is that 
in which our souls are to grow, and from which 
the rich fruits of our inner life will develop. It 
is the order of our public worship, and it will 
color all our personal thoughts. 

II. THE CHURCH YEAR AND INSTRUCTION 

The Christian Year of the Church cannot but 
affect our school instruction. In so far as the 
scholar is to be planted by the still waters of 
everlasting life, and is to be trained to an appre- 
ciation and use, in an orderly and living way, of 
God's means of grace, the plan of the Church 
Year should be a controlling feature in our in- 
struction. 

But it also is true that the Church Year must 
not be in exclusive control of the instruction. 
There are other orders of truth, independent of 
the Church Year, which are important — yes, vital 
in the development of the spiritual life of the 
child, and which must be pursued on their own 
account, and dare not be artificially chopped up 
and pieced out into a harmony of the year. 

Every indispensable branch of instruction for 
the growing Christian has a right to its own 
order, and should be accorded a proper place for 
its own inner development. This applies to his- 
tory and to teachings. The order of the Cate- 
chism, at certain times and seasons, and with 



246 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

certain scholars, becomes more important than 
the order of the Church Year. The same is to 
be said of Bible History. The order of the Gos- 
pels as arranged in the Church Year is not the 
exclusive order designed by God, in which they 
are to make an impression upon the mind. It is, 
in fact, not the original order. This original 
order, the order of history, has its important 
rights, as history, when we are training the mind 
in knowledge. 

The life of Christ has a right to be studied not 
only as it fits itself into the Church Year, but 
also as Christ Himself lived it, as it is recorded, 
in various ways, by the separate Evangelists. It 
is most important to study the Epistles, especially 
the great Epistles on Justification, as Paul wrote 
them, and to apprehend his plan and purpose in 
giving them to the Church. 

The history of the Old Testament, as pre- 
paratory to the coming of Christ, and by which 
alone much that is in the life of Christ can be un- 
sealed, and which also shows forth, on a large 
scale, the dealings of God with His covenant 
people has a right to be studied in the order 
in which they are given us in the books. 
The Psalms also have a right to independent 
use. It is right and proper to ground our 
pupils in a thorough knowledge of the facts, 
and in the historical order in which the facts 
followed each other. It is proper also to 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 247 

give them connected views of the characters, the 
institutions, the doctrines that we meet on the 
pages of God's Word. 

There should be a place for all these things in 
a comprehensive system of instruction. Exceed- 
ingly artificial would be any plan of instruction 
which would sacrifice all these necessary orders 
for the order of the Church Year. The one is 
to be upheld, and yet the other, in the Church's 
instruction, is not to be neglected. 

Those who would confine all the instruction 
to the Gospels and Epistles of the Church Year 
would not be teaching God's Word as He gave it 
to us. God has had regard for the principle of 
history, for the principle of variety, for the prin- 
ciple of adaptability to various stages in life, and 
it would be a narrow extreme either to reject 
the order of the Church Year or to confine one's 
self entirely to the Gospels and Epistles. In the 
teachings of the Church and School, both doc- 
trine and facts on their own account have their 
rights. But they are not exclusive. The main 
thing is the planting and growing of the child 
in Christ in a continuous Christian life. This is 
best done in the atmosphere of the Church Year. 

"The Church Year," says Dr. Krauth, "repro- 
duces the life of Christ in the Church, which is 
His Body in the world. It brings before us all 
that has been done in redemption in the ages past, 
and looks forth to all that redemption is to do in 



248 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

the ages to come. It repeats the central history 
of the world. It is the drama of God's working 
for men; the solemn mystery whose last act 
circles again into the first. It is the sublimest 
conception which man has associated with the 
flight of time. 

"The Church Year is too great a thing to be a 
mere human device. It is a token of the con- 
tinued ordinary working of the Holy Ghost in 
His Church, a secondary revelation. It brings 
before us in its circle, hoping and waiting, and 
fruition; birth, sorrow, death and triumph; the 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit from the throne of 
the ascended Redeemer; and at the end, 'the 
diapason closes full' in the Trinity, which is the 
center of all facts and all doctrines. Having in 
the Church Year followed Christ in what He 
does for us, and thus having been led into the 
mystic unity of the Holy Three and Undivided 
One, we give ourselves, through the rest of the 
year, to the shaping influence of Christ in us. 
For us and in us are the keynotes to the great 
divisions. Justification is the theme of the winter 
part; sanctification of the summer part. Up to 
Trinity, we have the objective, of which all that 
follows is the subjective. The year divides itself 
between foundation and edifice; between facts 
which underlie doctrine, and the duties which 
rise upon faith; first Christ to earthward; then, 
we to Christward." 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 249 

The Church Year is a beautiful evergreen 
wreath, with five or six large festive immortelles 
arranged at proper intervals upon the circle, the 
intervening space filled out with equally beau- 
tiful, but less conspicuous material. Advent, 
Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Palm Sunday and 
Passion, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, 
while they are the large and striking flowers in 
the wreath, are bound together by the equally 
vital and equally useful smaller vines and buds 
and leafage and moss that fill the full circle of 
God's plan of salvation. 

In the Roman Church there has been added to 
this wreath an immense amount of hay, and 
straw, and stubble, and of glittering colored- 
glass ornament ; whereas in other of our churches 
the wreath itself has been torn to pieces, and the 
vital matter, which is the connection of the fes- 
tive events with each other, and the unity of 
God's plan as a whole has been sundered. Ac- 
cording to their preference, some of the churches 
have retained Christmas and Easter; many of 
them have thrown aside Advent, Epiphany, Pas- 
sion, Good Friday, and consigned Ascension, even 
Whitsuntide, and especially Trinity, to the ash 
pile ; and some few of them are sorry that Christ- 
mas and Easter have not gone thither also. 

But we retain the whole wreath, not only in 
its chief flowers of beauty, but also in the con- 
tinuous development of life that encircles, and 



250 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

fills with a divine halo, the ever recurring natural 
period of our days. 

III. THE SACREDNESS OF LIFERS SEASONS 

We Christians live a sacred life, and natural 
things themselves become a reminder of the 
sacred. Fall, to us is not characterized chiefly 
by the softness of Indian summer; or the scarlet 
and gold coloration of the leafy wings of the 
trees; but Fall becomes the time when our souls 
look forward to the Last Things; to the First 
and Second Advent. Christmas is not chiefly to 
us a time of giving presents, and of the appear- 
ance of Santa Claus ; but it is chiefly a season of 
Holy Joy which overtakes earth and heaven be- 
cause of the coming of the Christ Child. Janu- 
ary and February are not to us times of starting 
the year anew, and engaging in a solid week of 
prayer ; but they are times when the glory of the 
Christ Child shines out from his heart into all 
the world and to most distant shores, and when 
our activity is not merely an earthly humanitarian 
strain, but is sun-dipped and radiant with the 
grace and glory of the Word made flesh. 

The rough days of March are not to us chiefly 
a time of bodily struggle with the rude elements ; 
but they are a time when our soul goes down into 
the depths in a sympathetic appreciation of the 
sufferings of his Lord. Spring is not chiefly a 
time when the world awakes, and the grass 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 251 

grows green, and the flowers begin to bloom; but 
it is the time when our hopes for eternity, when 
the certainty of His full justification, when the 
triumph of Christ over sin and Satan are assured 
to us by Easter-tide and the events that follow it. 

IV. LIVING IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST 

The Christian, through the Church Year, lives 
the life of Christ over again, year after year. He 
lives himself into God's plan of salvation. The 
Gospel springs and grows before his eye, as he 
takes step after step, in the outer framework of 
his days. His whole heart is deepened and con- 
secrated, not by stray events and feelings, and by 
movements organized on earth to affect his soul, 
but by the Gospel of God itself. With every re- 
curring Sunday, some important phase of salva- 
tion, which he greets as an old and familiar 
friend, kindly but earnest in its warnings, joy- 
ous and beautiful in its promises, stands be- 
fore his threshold. Thus every Sunday acquires 
a character as distinctive as Thanksgiving 
Day and Washington's Birthday take upon them- 
selves in our national life. Thus every Sunday 
blooms in its own well recognized scent and hue 
— it is an old friend, which endears itself to him, 
and to which he looks forward throughout all 
the week with heightened love and interest. Thus 
life upon earth becomes a progressive imaging 
of the still more glorious round of life in heaven. 



252 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

V. CONNECTING THE INDIVIDUAL WITH THE GROUP 

Thus, too, each individual Christian feels him- 
self a part of the great communion of saints, all 
of whom are being influenced by the same truths, 
thinking the same thoughts, reading the same 
Gospels, praying the same prayers and singing 
the same hymns throughout the world. We need 
something more than a week of prayer. We have 
a united prayer throughout the world on every 
Sunday — and, what is more, we have a united 
Word of God. The Word comes to us, in its 
selection, not at the option or according to the 
mood of the preacher, but from out of the full 
heart of the whole Church. 

Worship is not an individual thing. Warning 
and edification are not a matter of impulse. 
Every separate day is one part of God's own 
greater whole, is prepared for by all that has 
preceded, is itself a preparation for all that fol- 
lows it, and shines in the glory of its own divine 
lustre. 

With such a wealth of direct power and indi- 
rect association, with such a system of continuous 
operation upon the human heart and soul, with 
such a progressively self -endearing heritage, come 
down to us from the long past — who would 
throw away the wreath of the Church Year for 
a service made by some ecclesiastical committee, 
for Scripture selections chosen on a Sunday 
morning half hour before service, while the 



THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 253 

preacher is looking over the pages of his Bible, 
and for hymns put on the program because the 
choir likes to sing them for their catchy air ! 

No. Let us take God's own framework of the 
year, His own round of golden days, burnished 
by the glowing rays of the sun, and darkened by 
the stormy bosom of the clouds. Let us take 
Christ's own Body, the Church. Let us place 
therein the glorious living roses of God's own 
salvation, not in their solitary beauty, but in 
their own living order and connection, and then 
we shall have that, which for grace, and strength, 
and completeness, is worthy of being set along- 
side of nature herself in her finest upbuilding of 
life and beauty and strength. 

When Nature tries her finest touch, 

Weaving her vernal wreath, 
Mark ye, how close she veils her round, 
Not to be trac'd by sight or sound, 

Nor soil'd by ruder breath. 

So still and secret is her growth, 

Ever the truest heart, 
Where deepest strikes her kindly root, 
For hope or joy, for flower or fruit, 

Least knows its happy part. 

No — let the dainty rose awhile 

Her bashful fragrance hide — 
Rend not her silken veil too soon, 
But leave her in her own soft noon, 

To flourish and abide. 

— John Keble, The Christian Year. 



254 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

THE BIBLE AS A TEXT-BOOK 

1. The Scripture Material. 

1. The Teacher's View of It as a Whole. 

2. The Various Books and Parts. 

3. The Teacher's Purpose in His Bible Study. 

4. How the Teacher Shall Study the Bible. 

2. Classification of the Material for Pedagogi- 
cal Use. 

"Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth." 

1. Truths and History. 

2. Collections of Important Texts. 

3. Question Books. 

4. Lesson Leaves. 

5. Pocket Editions of Books. 

3. Limits of Use of the Material in the Time 
Allotted for Teaching. 

4. Order in the Use of the Material. 

5. Use of the Material in Connection With the 
Christian Year. 

1. The Christian Year. 

2. The Church Year and Instruction. 

3. The Sacredness of Life's Seasons. 

4. Living in the Life of Christ. 

5. Connecting the Individual With the Group. 



CHAPTER XX 

A General Outline of the Lesson Plan 

We now are ready to get down to planning 
our actual teaching work, as we engage in it from 
Sunday to Sunday. The principles and methods 
we may have selected from the preceding chap- 
ters or from elsewhere, for use in class, are to be 
interwoven into one, and put into operation. In 
the "Outline" given below, the work of teaching 
has been divided into five parts : 

1. Preparing for the Lesson. 

2. Opening the Lesson Period. 

3. Introducing the Lesson. 

4. Teaching the Lesson. 

5. Closing the Lesson Period. 

The "Outline" we suggest is a complete 
schedule which the teacher should condense and 
adapt to his own need. Some of the points are 
already a part of his experience and practice. 
Others he may be able to improve on. Circum- 
stances and lack of time will prevent him from 
carrying out the entire program. He must bring 
the process, as here given, within the limits of 
what is practicable. 

This does not mean that he simply should se- 
lect those points to which he has already accus- 
tomed himself. He should check up his own 

255 



256 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

method by what is presented here and should 
decide as to what on the whole will render him 
more effective, remembering that every prear- 
ranged scheme should be adapted to one's own 
individuality by the use of good judgment. If 
he will concentrate on a few points at a time as 
they commend themselves to him, without at- 
tempting too much, he can later turn his atten- 
tion to other points. The "Outline" follows : 

THE ACT OF TEACHING 
How Shall I Teach 

FIRST PART OF THE TEACHING PROCESS 

/. Preparing for the Lesson 

1. Familiarizing One's Self with the Lesson 
Material. 

2. Getting the Right Light on It. 

3. Finding the Range; that is, Selecting Your 
Main Purpose. 

4. Thinking Out the Method and Organizing 
the Material under It. 

5. Fixing the Pivotal Points of the Story, or of 
the Outline of Thought, Firmly in Mind, with a 
Clear View of the Way in which the Transition 
from one point to another is to be made. 

6. Thinking Out the Important Parts that are 
Capable of Illustration. 

7. Elimination and Compression. 

8. Deciding How Best to Sum Up. 



OUTLINE OF THE LESSON PLAN 257 

9. Selecting the Most Valuable Applications. 

10. Making a Plan of that Part of the Work 
in which the Pupil Co-operates with you. 

( 1 ) Memory Work. 
Selecting It. 

Adapting It to Individual Capacity. 
Noting It down for the Pupil. 

(2) Planning the Lesson Questions. 

(3) Planning Topics or Points for Discus- 
sion. 

(4) If there be Research or other work for 
the Pupil at Home, Preparing Memoranda for 
each Pupil. 

SECOND PART OF THE TEACHING PROCESS 

II. Opening the Lesson Period 

1. A Few Words Showing Interest in the Wel- 
fare of each of the Pupils, thus securing attention 
and concentration on what you are saying. 

2. Expressing optimism as to the Day and the 
Work. 

3. Preliminary Memory Work. 

(1) Recitation of Assigned Work, with re- 
marks on it. 

(2) Review of Past Work. 

(3) Assignment of Memory and of other 
Preparation Work for the following Sunday. 

THIRD PART OF THE TEACHING PROCESS 

777. Introducing the Lesson 
1. Opening Remarks on the Lesson. 



258 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

(1) State your Subject. 

(2) State your Intention or Object, so far 
as it is wise to divulge it. 

(3) If necessary, use Devices to Gain or 
Renew the Scholar's Interest in the Subject. 

(4) Quickly touch on the Big Things of the 
Lesson : Get the facts and the perspective clear. 

FOURTH PART OF THE TEACHING PROCESS 

IV. Teaching the Lesson 

1. Develop the Text or Subject under the 
Method chosen, on the basis of your Mental Out- 
line, prepared during the week, and as modified 
by the necessities of today's situation. 

2. Sum up the Lesson in a few words. 

3. Make the Application. 

FIFTH PART OF THE TEACHING PROCESS 

V. Closing the Lesson Period 

1. Say a few words Interesting the Scholar in 
the Subject and Material of next Sunday's Les- 
son. 

2. Again Call Attention Collectively, or, if pos- 
sible, Individually, to the Work Assigned for 
next Sunday. 

This "Outline" needs some explanation to 
make it more clear, and its usefulness more ap- 
parent. Following it in the order given, we 
begin, in the next chapter, with an exposition of 
the Teacher's Preparation for the Lesson. 



CHAPTER XXI 

Things to Do in the Act of Preparing the 
Lesson 

Much has been said and written for teachers 
concerning the preparation of the lesson. Prepa- 
ration often is neglected because the teacher in 
his arrangement of his time during the week has 
not found any place for it. No good teacher in- 
tends to neglect preparation, but at times he is 
overweighed with duties and appointments, or 
perhaps with a feeling of discouragement. Then 
his preparation will be undertaken heroically per- 
haps, but hopelessly and without intelligent per- 
ception of what is to be done. If teaching is a 
bore and a trial to you, you will lack interest in 
the teaching process, will fail to regard this as 
sufficiently important to prepare for it, will fall 
into carelessness and slipshod ways, and the result 
will be a constant sense of failure, which, as time 
goes on, may become almost unendurable. This 
sense of failure is felt by many faithful teachers, 
because of difficulties with which they have to 
contend in the scholars, or for other reasons. 
They do not realize sufficiently that it is our priv- 
ilege and should be our joy, or as our Saviour 
says, our "meat and drink," to plant the harvest, 
and that the reaping thereof may come only after 
259 



260 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

many years and by others than ourselves. The 
Saviour's experiences in sowing the seed in the 
hearts of the multitudes, and in training the 
Twelve, should convince us that we are not to 
grow pessimistic because of apparent failure. 

GENERAL PREPARATION — THE TEACHER^ NOTE- 
BOOK 

You need a working knowledge of the path 
for the coming year. To this end I know of 
nothing better than "The Teacher's Note-Book," 
described by Amos R. Wells. The book should 
have at least fifty-two pages, one for each lesson 
of the year. Extra pages, for a list of scholars 
and incidental memoranda, will be a helpful con- 
venience. 

"Head each page," says Mr. Wells, "with the 
title of the lesson, and the Scripture reference; 
and, I am old-fashioned enough to add, with the 
Golden Text, or at least with some wisely chosen 
Bible key-verse. 

"You will plan your teaching far ahead, using 
these blank pages. For instance, take the matter 
of practical helpfulness to each of your scholars. 
You have noticed slothfulness in Edith, and want 
to spur her out of it. You look ahead. Ah, here, 
on May 13th, is just the lesson she needs. You 
note on that page: "Energy and industry — 
(Edith)." In the same way you go through your 
class, fitting the needs and the lesson teachings. 



ACT OF PREPARING THE LESSON 261 

Not that you will forget Edith till May 13th 
comes, nor that on May 13th you will say a word 
in the class about Edith's failing. But it is a 
great advantage in teaching, as you will discover, 
to take special thought for a certain scholar in 
the teaching of each lesson, and in planning for 
it, and praying for it beforehand. This can 
hardly be accomplished without some such note- 
book arranging as I have described. 

"Again you will use your lesson note-book for 
that comprehensive forward look over the les- 
sons which quite doubles their value. The first 
question regarding each lesson is, 'What shall I 
emphasize ? What truth, among the many truths 
suggested here, shall I cause to stand out in the 
scholars' apprehension and memory?' On the 
wise selection of these central truths, and the 
forcible insistence upon them depends very 
largely the teacher's success. You will need to 
look far ahead, that the truths you choose for 
emphasis may have relation to one another, may 
not duplicate one another, but be cumulative. 
This again, is hardly to be brought about except 
by the use of a note-book. 

"Once more consider the matter of illustra- 
tions. Your lesson note-book will keep steadily 
in view the topics of your teaching far ahead. If 
you are a wise teacher you are always on the 
lookout for teaching material. Every walk 
through the woods gives you a teaching parable. 



262 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

Every copy of a newspaper gives you an illumi- 
nating incident from current history. Every 
book brings you a fine anecdote or appealing 
thought. Every day your observation of the men 
and women around you is rich in illustrative ma- 
terial. Much of this is entirely unsuited to the 
immediate Sunday-School lessons, and will be 
altogether lost unless you have this store-house 
in which to garner it, placing parable, current 
event, passage from book or from life, just where 
it will be most useful, though on a page ten 
months hence. 

"As you read your Bible, the lesson note-book 
will be constantly by your side. Every true 
teacher knows that the Bible is its own best in- 
terpreter. Not a passage you will read but has 
its bearing on some of the lessons to come. It 
may not relate to next Sunday's lesson, but to 
the lesson five months distant. Very well ; note it 
on the proper page, and you have won the strong- 
est ally for the teaching of that lesson, when you 
come to it. 

"The note-book should be small enough to 
carry with you constantly. Carry with it the part 
of the Bible you study during the year — at least 
as far ahead as your pocket allows. For this pur- 
pose I strongly recommend every teacher to 
sacrifice one Bible, cutting it apart and taking 
from time to time just the selections that are 
under immediate consideration. 



ACT OF PREPARING THE LESSON 263 

"The chief value of the lesson note-book to the 
teacher will be in the cultivation of the habit of 
thinking ahead over the lessons to come. Until 
you have tried it, you have no idea how this 
longer consideration enriches the lesson with 
many helpful thoughts and practical illustrations, 
how it clarifies its teachings, how it adds force 
and confidence to your work, and how it binds 
the lesson together, week to week and month to 
month. Faithfully use your note-books, and you 
will come to regard them as your chief pedagogi- 
cal aid." 

Special Preparation 
i. getting the material ready for next 

SUNDAY 

The first step in preparing the lesson is to get 
the material ready for next Sunday. Take your 
Bible and read the section through carefully as a 
whole. Ask yourself the following questions : 

1. What are the Facts? 

2. What are the Truths ? 

3. What is the Fundamental Thought of the 
Passage ? 

4. What is the Best General Application to 
your Class that occurs to you ? 

5. Try to think yourself into the passage, and 
take your Work to God in Prayer. 

The second step is : 



264 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 
II. GETTING THE RIGHT LIGHT ON THE LESSON 

This light will be found in the various connec- 
tions of the lesson. Therefore consider : 

1. The passage as Literature. 

2. The passage as Inspired. 

3. The passage as History. 

4. The Point of Contact and General Connec- 
tion in the plan of the present Lesson Series. 

5. Connection with last Sunday's and next 
Sunday's Lesson. 

6. Connection with Present-Day Thought and 
Problems. 

7. Undertake Suggestive Collateral Reading. 

1- — 2. AS LITERATURE AND AS INSPIRED 

In order to get the right light on your lesson 
material, it is desirable first of all that you com- 
prehend the literary connection of the passage 
with the book from which it is taken. For the 
teacher should have some understanding of the 
book as a piece of literature, and should make up 
his mind as to the author's purpose in writing 
this particular section. But there is a higher 
Author of Scripture than the human writer and 
hence the section should be viewed as having been 
inspired, and the question should be asked, 
"What was the purpose of the Holy Spirit in 
having this lesson written?" The connection of 
the truth taught in this lesson with God's plan 
and work of salvation should be sought. 



ACT OF PREPARING THE LESSON 265 

3. GETTING THE HISTORICAL CONNECTION 

The times in the midst of which the passage 
was written, and the environment of the writer, 
have left a general imprint on the passage and 
perhaps deposited in it certain details of fact and 
thought that should be understood. The passage 
also bears a relation to the historical thread in 
the book of which the section forms a part. 
Reading and investigation to secure this histori- 
cal connection will be a help. 

A 5. THE CONNECTION IN THE PRESENT SERIES OF 

LESSONS 

The point of contact and connection, of the les- 
son now being studied, in the plan of the Lesson 
Series, often is important and suggestive. In the 
schedule of lessons read all the subjects preceding 
and those following the one you are studying. 
Ask yourself, "Why was this particular subject 
and passage of Scripture chosen for study at this 
place? What contribution does it make to the 
whole series ?" Give special attention to the con- 
nection with last Sunday's lesson and with the 
lesson for the Sunday following it. As you go 
on in this way from Sunday to Sunday, the cumu- 
lative force of the whole series will add power- 
fully to your insight, and become a stimulus to 
the study of the part immediately in hand. 

6. TIMELINESS OF THE SUBJECT 

Ask yourself the question, "How does this les- 



266 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

son connect in general with present-day thought 
and present-day problems?" Is there any truth 
in it which has a special bearing on subjects in 
which your scholars are naturally interested at 
this time? Has it any teaching on these subjects 
which could be utilized for instruction? 

7. COLLATERAL READING FOR SUGGESTIONS 

The teacher should know a great deal more on 
his subject than he expects to give or than he 
possibly can give to his scholars in the course of 
a single lesson. But he must constantly guard 
himself, in actual teaching, against the danger of 
over-extending himself at any particular point 
because of more ample knowledge. The more he 
knows, the more diligently must he prepare him- 
self for actual impartation by rigid elimination 
and compression. 

His possession of abundant knowledge is a 
great advantage. It gives him strength and confi- 
dence, a broad outlook, a freshness of viewpoint, 
and the certainty that he will not become con- 
fused in case any unexpected question should 
arise, the answer to which he has not prepared 
himself. As he has time at his disposal, he should 
therefore plan to take up collateral reading on 
the subject matter of the lesson. 

In the measure in which he has time to give to 
it, he should aim to read fully either on the sub- 
ject underlying the whole course of lessons, or on 



ACT OF PREPARING THE LESSON 267 

points bearing on the particular lessons in hand. 
It is not easy to get books that will be exactly in 
the line of his desire, nor easy to get quickly from 
any book that which he thinks he may need for 
his purpose. Knowledge is adjusted to so many 
different scales, and presented in so many variant 
perspectives, that he may be disappointed in a 
dozen recommended books, before he secures one 
that is quite satisfactory. The case sometimes is 
not very different from that of trying to find a 
needle in a haystack. Or the quantity of rele- 
vant material offered him is too extensive, as 
though one were to go to a dealer's for a half 
glass of cream and be told that they sell only 
milk (from which the cream is to be skimmed), 
and in not less than five-gallon lots. 

When you make up your mind to do collateral 
reading a long way ahead, and take time for the 
perusal and study of pertinent works, you will 
have pretty well mastered the subject before the 
arrival of the hour when you must begin the 
study of the specific lesson in question. Do not 
try to crowd a month's reading into a half hour's 
study just before the opening of Sunday-School, 
and expect to be able to use the material acquired 
successfully. Consult reading lists that may be 
furnished you by your pastor, by editors of Sun- 
day-School Lessons, by commentaries, by jour- 
nals on the lesson, and in some cases by public 
libraries. If possible, look through a number of 



268 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

books recommended, and get a cursory judgment 
of them, before selecting those that you intend 
for permanent use through purchase. 

It may be possible to form a Reading Club in 
your school, through which you can share with 
other teachers in the purchase and use of books. 
A Teachers' Library can be started by the school, 
with the aid of the pastor. Make free use of a 
good Bible Concordance, and of marginal refer- 
ences in your Bible, so as to gather parallel and 
explanatory material from the Scripture itself.* 
Do not be discouraged if for a time your efforts 
to secure suitable literature for collateral read- 
ing, and your work on the books, turn out to be 
of little practical help. Keep on experimenting. 
In this line, experience is frequently worth what 
it costs, though much of the gain be indirect and 
not immediately available. 

III. FINDING THE EXACT RANGE OF THE TARGET 
FOR NEXT SUNDAY 

The first step is : 

1. To Get the Author's Aim. 

In writing the passage of Scripture that consti- 

* Johns' Reference Passage Bible, the Alpha Pub- 
lishing Company, Lincoln Neb., 1908, printing out the 
references in a column parallel with the text; or the 
Scofield Reference Bible, Oxford University Press, 35 
West Thirty-second Street, New York, 1909, with a 
system of topical references to the greater themes of 
Scripture and very brief annotations, may be helpful. 



ACT OF PREPARING THE LESSON 269 

tutes your lesson for the day, its author had a 
purpose. That purpose may be slightly or greatly 
different from your own. But you cannot be a 
true and reliable exponent of Scripture without 
understanding the original aim. A commentary 
will help you on this point. The idea of the 
original writer, and not your own idea, is funda- 
mental. For your real office is that of an in- 
terpreter, and it becomes your duty to find out 
the message originally intended, before you pro- 
ceed to modify or adjust it for purposes of im- 
partation. 

Ask yourself the question: 

2. What parts in this Aim, general — of the les- 
son as a whole — or special — of single phrases or 
clauses — will take effect on your own class. 

There may be as many as a dozen subsidiary 
purposes, each with good teaching value, to be 
found in the verses, and from which you will 
have to make a small selection for your use. 

In the third place : 

3. Construct and Fix in your mind the one 
main Aim or Purpose to which you determine to 
adhere resolutely in your exposition next Sun- 
day. Examine the whole lesson in the light of 
this purpose. By this time you will have at your 
disposal, so to say, the specific value which has 
been extracted by you for your use from the 
passage of Scripture under study. 

You are now ready to proceed to 



270 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

IV. THINK OUT AND DECIDE THE METHOD TO BE 

EMPLOYED, 

which should be done in full view of the time 
limits into which you are shut, and of the natural 
interest, or the reverse, in the subject, which may 
be expected to be found in your scholars. It will 
be wise at this point to run over in your mind the 
various persons that constitute your class, and to 
see what particular individuals among them you 
are going to reach in a helpful way through this 
lesson. Such a knowledge will aid in giving defi- 
niteness to your Aim, appropriateness to your 
Method, and effectiveness to your Application. 

V. FIXING THE PIVOTAL POINTS OF THE STORY, OR 
OF THE OUTLINE OF THOUGHT, FIRMLY IN MIND 

with a clear view of the way in which the Transi- 
tion from one point to another is to be made. 

For your own comfort, and that you may be 
sure in advance of your pathway to the end, it 
will be well to fix mentally the main points in the 
order you intend to take them up, and to think 
out clearly the manner in which you will make 
the transition from one point to the next. You 
will save yourself the awkward sensation of un- 
expectedly stepping into mental vacancy, and the 
dilemma of not knowing how to get out on the 
main pathway again. If you should fall into such 
confusion, you probably will go stumbling around 
and beating the air with chance thoughts, in con- 



ACT OF PREPARING THE LESSON 271 

stantly increasing embarrassment, and with the 
loss of some minutes of time. 

Minds differ greatly, and some teachers can 
rely on their instinct for rinding the way in any 
difficulty, even where clear perception of connec- 
tion has failed them. But the man who knows 
the landmarks along the road, need give himself 
no worry during the journey. There are times 
when you will, while speaking, discover a short 
cut, or a better and more effective path, and there 
is nothing to bind you to the track you have 
blazed in advance, if you catch a new vision of 
the goal and strike out independently through the 
virgin forest. But as you are due at the terminus 
at a fixed moment, you will be more sure of your- 
self if there is a beaten path to fall back on, 
where it becomes necessary. 

Some regions that you penetrate may be very 
picturesque and even intricate, and it may be 
possible not only to traverse them more rapidly 
by airship, but also to render the journey more 
understandable and attractive, and in many cases 
more thrilling and unforgettable. 

Therefore at this point it will be well to decide 
whether you can and ought use 

VI. ILLUSTRATIONS 

There is only one rule here. If they do not 
suggest themselves, find them, or omit them. We 
cannot treat the subject, but refer you to what 



272 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

has been said on it in Chapter XII on "How 
Shall I Illustrate the Lesson?" Your illustra- 
tions should be selected from the point of view 
of appreciation by the class. 

All this time your material has been accumu- 
lating. You are ready to 

VII. CUT DOWN YOUR WORK TO LESSON-PERIOD SIZE 

You probably have enough ideas in your mind 
and enough things that you desire to do to fill a 
whole hour. You must compress your work into 
half that space, perhaps less. Look over your 
preparation, for thoughts and details that are ir- 
relevant. Eliminate explanations and discussions 
that are too complicated or obscure to handle in 
short order. Put a time mark on all topics that 
are so tempting for discussion that they will in- 
volve you in undue length. Omit absolutely such 
things in your preparation as were valuable to 
yourself in getting to the heart of the matter and 
are fundamental to the technical student, but are 
beyond the range of concise and successful class 
treatment. If your mind is apt to become sug- 
gestive of new ideas and expands under the in- 
spiration of teaching, cut down your materials to 
two-thirds of what you need to fill the period, so 
as to allow some room for extempore thought, 
and for possible discussion or questioning by 
scholars. If on the other hand, your mind con- 
tracts in the act of teaching, and you are obliged 



ACT OF PREPARING THE LESSON 273 

to fall back on your preparation with the feeling 
that the fullness thereof has vanished and only a 
few dry roots remain, you can provide yourself 
more amply in advance. 

Having devoted all this time to securing what 
may be called the intrinsic strength for your les- 
son, and to arranging and condensing it, it is now 
in order to consider how you will bring the lesson 
to an appealing and effective close. This final 
part of your task, which, with the faces of your 
scholars in mind, should be deeply interesting, 
and should appeal to your own heart, may per- 
haps be divided into two parts, viz. : Summing 
Up, and Making Application. 

VIII. HOW BEST TO SUM UP 

Turn back in your mind to what you found to 
be the fundamental thought. Recall what you 
announced at the beginning as your purpose and 
object. Recall the more important stages of de- 
velopment. Think also of the intention of the 
inspired writer in penning the passage, and then 
prepare mentally a few strong and glowing state- 
ments which will embody the substance of the 
lesson, and which will be pointed or headed 
toward the Application. 

IX. SELECTING THE APPLICATIONS 

With the various individuals of your class, and 
what they most need, or what will be most help- 



274 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

ful to the class as a whole, or to certain individ- 
uals in it, in your mind, review all the applica- 
tions that have occurred to you during your 
study, and select those which seemed to flow 
most naturally from the lesson, especially from 
its main thought, and which will be most telling. 
It may be possible for you to present four or 
five different applications with success, but usu- 
ally you will be doing better if you concentrate 
on two or three, or on a single one flowing from 
the main thought. In that case the other really 
good applications can perhaps be made in a cur- 
sory and incidental way, in a single sentence or 
two, dropped as it were, as a hint during your ex- 
position of the substance of the lesson. If one 
or two of the applications should fail to strike a 
responsive chord, the third may strike the right 
spot and be effective. For the manner of mak- 
ing the application I cannot do better than refer 
you to what is said in Chapter XIV. 

X. PLANNING THE PUPILS CO-OPERATIVE WORK 

This includes the Memory Work, the Lesson 
Questions, the Topics or Points for discussion, 
and Memoranda for individual Research. These 
matters cannot be touched on here except to give 
a little advice on the use of Questions. The im- 
portance of the questioning method and the way 
to employ it has been treated in full in Chapters 
XV and XVI. 



ACT OF PREPARING THE LESSON 275 

Perhaps you teach entirely by the question 
method. Even in such a case there will be places 
where in order to save time, or to keep things on 
the track, or to give the class the fundamental 
point of view, it will be wise to make positive 
statements and to give a little instruction in direct 
form. 

It is essential, if you teach entirely through 
the use of questions, that you have your Outline 
well in mind all the time. If your questions fol- 
low the actual text of the lesson, clause for 
clause, you will need to bring out into prominence 
the proportionate importance of the greater facts 
and truths. The scholars should recognize the 
pathway of thought, and feel that they are mak- 
ing progress on it as the lesson proceeds. The 
pathway of thought may be that of the writer of 
the passage, or may be your own, which you have 
mapped out for the purpose of teaching certain 
great truths, or of meeting what you believe to be 
the greatest spiritual needs of the class at the 
moment. 

When at the conclusion you come to the prac- 
tical application, it will be wise, in order to avoid 
any awkward blunder or miscarriage of inten- 
tion, brought on by a wrong reply of the pupils, 
to so bring the truth of the lesson to a positive 
focus, without actually stating it in so many 
words, that when the great question of applica- 
tion is asked the pupils cannot possibly fail both 



276 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

to see it in its weightiness, and also to feel the 
answer rising in their hearts. 

It may be wise, after you have brought out the 
first fact, or truth, or thought in the lesson 
through your questions, to briefly sum tip the re- 
sult of the class's work in positive form, and 
then proceed to the next, and so on to the end. 

You may reserve your question work for the 
introduction and concluding part of the lesson. 
In all cases remember that your main points 
should be in the mind of the class as they ad- 
vance. Otherwise the really important parts of 
the lesson may not be brought out, or may be 
submerged in incidental discussion. 

It also is well to remember that if your ques- 
tion work is general, and really elicits response 
and hearty interest in the pupils, your progress 
will be slow, and you cannot think of covering 
the same amount of ground that you would by 
direct statement. Time will be lost in giving the 
pupils opportunity to think. Time will be lost in 
sidetracking irrelevant questions, in showing the 
bearing of questions and the kinship of several 
questions arising in different minds. Finally, 
time will be lost in bringing the results of the 
questioning into line with your main pathway of 
progress. Hence, in order to reach the terminus 
at the proper moment, you must be constantly 
alert as to the things that can be skipped over 
without interfering with efficiency. 



ACT OF PREPARING THE LESSON 277 

I conclude with two general observations. The 
first is this: If you use the questioning process 
successfully, the pupils will be teaching them- 
selves the lesson in their own way under your 
direction, and although they accomplish much 
less, what has been done will be of much more 
value to them. They will be more likely to be- 
come active doers of the work, and not to remain 
in the passive or receptive state of a mere 
hearer. 

The second observation is a word of caution. 
When you employ the questioning method be 
fair in dealing with answers, and be sure to ac- 
cord due respect to the answers given by all the 
participants. Some of the things that the more 
obtuse scholars will offer, and some of the very 
clever answers made by the brighter scholars will 
be very light in your judgment and may even be 
laughable. The stumbling and hesitating of a 
scholar may be positively painful to the class. In 
other cases scholars may decline to participate, 
with perhaps the unintentional result of throwing 
a wet blanket over the whole exercise. At times 
the questions will tend to disturb the poise of 
your judgment, and may even confuse you, and 
very often answers may be given that will try 
your patience. But in all cases be uniformly 
courteous and respectful to your scholars; deal 
with them as you yourself would like to be dealt 
with; and in your bearing and manner, even 



278 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

where the answer is worthless, give them that 
quiet assurance of encouragement that will cause 
them to feel that their effort has been accepted 
as genuine and with good will, and that you have 
appreciated their willingness, and are not irri- 
tated by any lack of value in their contribution. 
On the other hand, if you have pestiferous and 
persistent minds in your class, inclined to split 
hairs, or to monopolize the valuable time of the 
class on minor discussions, you must nerve your- 
self to deal firmly and kindly with them, and by 
a superior intellectual sagacity, or with a win- 
ning personal way, close the door tight against 
too frequent interruption. 

We have completed our explanation of the 
things that the teacher is to have in mind in the 
preparation of the lesson, viz.: Getting the Ma- 
terial and the Method, the Aim, the Pivotal 
Points, the Illustrations, his process of Elimina- 
tion and Compression, his Summing Up of the 
lesson and its Application. He also should be 
ready with his plan for the pupil's Co-operative 
Work. We go now to the teacher's activity dur- 
ing the lesson period itself. 



CHAPTER XXII 

Things to Do in the Act of Teaching the 

Lesson 

i. opening the lesson period 
Three points are mentioned here in the Out- 
line, as suggestive, none of which need any fur- 
ther illustration, and we proceed to the next 
function. 

II. INTRODUCING THE LESSON 

The Outline here is explicit and clear. The 
object of the introduction is to gain the attention 
and interest of the scholar and to put him quickly 
into living touch with the work before him. The 
introduction may be greatly varied, for the sake 
of freshness, to accord with time and occasion. 
Whatever is of great local interest in the com- 
munity or the congregation, and can be turned to 
service as a stepping stone to lead into the lesson, 
may be of service here. The two great points to 
remember are to get fresh and living contact with 
the thinking of the class on that particular day, 
and in a few words to place the substance of the 
lesson before them. 

We come, at last, to the main work. 

III. TEACHING THE LESSON 

Here the two great preparatory parts of your 
279 



280 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

work are to be combined, viz.: the Material as 
you have gathered and organized it in your Prep- 
aration, and the Method or Combination of 
methods that you have chosen in order to present 
it. The actual teaching of the lesson will show 
you, far better than any advice, in how far your 
Preparation has been of value, and in how far 
your Method is the best one for your use. Do 
not be discouraged if you feel that you have 
failed on either of these points. With experi- 
ence, confidence will grow and effectiveness will 
increase. 

The Summing Up of the lesson just prior to its 
close is the tying of a binder around the sheaf of 
wheat which you have harvested during the hour, 
and is well worth the minute or two that the act 
requires. The Application is the actual handing 
out of the loaf of bread, made from the harvest, 
to hungry souls. However rich and varied the 
harvest be that you have cut, if you do not bind 
it into unity at the close, and if, further, you 
have no real bread to offer for the spiritual de- 
velopment of your scholars, your work will have 
been only half done. 

IV. CLOSING THE LESSON PERIOD 

There should be a few seconds' pause after you 
have concluded the Application, and you should 
be able to get down from the impressiveness of 
the climax to the natural and matter-of-fact re- 



ACT OF TEACHING THE LESSON 281 

marks that are to lead the class to think in a 
business way of next Sunday's lesson. The ob- 
ject of these closing remarks is to continue your 
hold on the class for what is still to come. You 
want them present next Sunday. You want them 
to come with expectation. If possible, you desire 
some preparation on their part. You also do not 
want to lose the momentum which you have 
gained up to this point by their Sunday after 
Sunday attendance and participation in the les- 
son. Whatever will be suitable for these pur- 
poses, will be in place here. But do not exhort 
them, and above all, do not elaborate the closing 
words into a sort of second sermon. Be brief 
and businesslike. 



CONCLUDING ADVICE 

A teacher of long experience, Mr. Amos H. 
Wells, looking back on his career, tells us that if 
he had his work to do over again, he would think 
less of himself, more of his pupils, and very 
much more of Christ. He says : 

"I should not worry about the impression I 
was making, but I should seek to have Him 
make an impression upon my pupils, though 
through my failure. I should not try to shine, 
but I should try to make Christ's life shine 
out. I should not seek to be popular, but to make 
Him so. Probably I should find this the very 



282 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

best way to obtain popularity for myself ; but if 
I did not obtain it, but did gain my main end, I 
should not care. 

"Then, if I could begin again, I should make 
less elaborate preparation for my teaching. I 
should learn to simplify my teaching, and to 
focus it more upon a few facts and truths. As 
I remember it, I used to put enough into each 
half hour for two full hours. The result must 
have been to confuse my pupils and fill them with 
dismay. I should have remembered that they 
were at the beginning, or near the beginning, of 
their Bible study. I should have put myself in 
their place. I should have insisted upon first 
things first, and then, after the first things were 
mastered, and not till then, I should have gone 
on to the second things. I should have made 
haste slowly, and I am sure that I would have 
arrived much sooner at the goal. 

"If I had it to do over again, I should think 
less of what I was giving and more of what they 
were getting. I did little or nothing, at the start, 
to make my pupils study at home. I gave out no 
home work. My teaching was all lectures, 
though usually under the thin disguise of ques- 
tions and answers. Thus I was all the time pour- 
ing into baskets full of holes. Their home study, 
though probably it would have been very inade- 
quate, yet would have provided a solid cup of at- 
tention into which I might have poured some- 



ACT OF TEACHING THE LESSON 283 

thing that they would have retained. This was a 
very bad mistake of mine. 

"I should have discovered this mistake if I had 
tested my work, but I did not do this. I did not 
really 'examine' them in any way. Now, I give 
examinations, written examinations, almost every 
Sunday; and the process, invaluable as it is, takes 
only five minutes. If I had examined my pupils 
in those early days, what surprises I should have 
gained, for them and for me ! Every teacher 
should know, and cause his pupils to know, 
whether they are actually making progress in 
Bible knowledge or not; but I used to 'teach' 
straight along in blissful ignorance that I was not 
really teaching anything — or very little at the 
most. 

"When I began to teach I did not make the 
great mistake of not having a deep personal in- 
terest in my pupils, and I think that I had a per- 
sonal interest over them ; but I did not visit them 
at their homes, or have them visit me at my home, 
or write to them, or get up little parties for them, 
or take them to lectures, or go out walking with 
them, or do anything else of the kind; I just 
talked to them on Sundays. If I had those pupils 
now, I should do all of those things, and I should 
get far deeper into their lives, that I might know 
better just how and where to help them. Once, 
after teaching a- certain young man for several 
years, thinking all the time that he was a firm be- 



284 HOW TO TEACH IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

liever in Christianity, I discovered to my dismay 
that he was a very thorough agnostic. I should 
not make that mistake now. 

"The reason why I made that mistake was be- 
cause I did not try to bring my pupils into a defi- 
nite Christian life. I did not emphasize the 
necessity of a Christian confession, or, if I did, 
it was all general emphasis, not brought to a head 
by definite tests, what the evangelists call 'draw- 
ing the net/ I did not approach their parents in 
regard to the matter. I did not have conversa- 
tions with my pupils, one at a time, about their 
joining the church. I do all this now, and count 
it the crown of my Sunday-School work. At the 
beginning of every lesson during the studies made 
through 1910 in the life of Christ I asked my 
class, 'Why are we studying Matthew this year?' 
And the class answered in concert, 'To know 
Jesus Christ better.' That is the use of it all." 

Thus Mr. Wells brings us back to our starting 
point in the first chapter. To teach in Sunday- 
School is to help the scholars to grow in grace 
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. The teacher is a builder of life. 
His scholars are living and growing stones (I 
Peter 2 :2-5 ) ; fitly framed together, on the foun- 
dation of the prophets and the apostles, Jesus 
Christ himself being the chief cornerstone (Eph. 
2:20-22), into the living Church of God, unto a 
holy temple to the Lord. 





I. THE ART 


1. 


Nature 


2. 


Origin 


3. 


Craftsmen 


4. 


Aim 


5. 


Realization 


6. 


Process 


7. 


Types 


8. 


The Master-Teacher 





II. METHOD 


1. 


Psychological Problem 


2. 


Methodological Problem 


3. 


Literary Problem 


4. 


Practical Problem 


5. 


Problem of Examination and Test 


6. 


Collateral Problems 




Influence 




Training 



III. 


THE MATERIAL 


1. 


Truth 




The Message 


2. 


Kind 




The Form 


3. 


Delimitation 




Fitting Quantity to 




Practicability 



IV. THE ACT 

1. Preparation 

2. Presentation 

3. Association or 

Illustration 

4. Generalization 

5. Application 



NOTE 

A full bibliography on the various subjects 
of Christian Education, including , 

Babyhood 

Early Childhood 

Childhood 

Kindergarten 

Child and Religion 

Child Training 

The Boy 

The Organized Boy 

The Girl 

Adolescence 

Psychology of Youth 

Psychology and Religious Education 

Public Schools and Religious Education 

Church and Religious Education 

Ideals of Education 

Psychology and the Teacher 

Psychology and the Pupil 

Pedagogy 

Telling a Story 

Sunday- School Teaching 

Teacher Training 

Graded Sunday-School Lessons 

The Sunday- School 
will be issued shortly in separate form. It was 
prepared to accompany this volume, but owing 
to difficulties in the printing situation, its in- 
clusion w r ould too greatly have delayed the pres- 
ent issue. 

289 



TOPICAL INDEX 

Absent-Mindedness, Secret of, 188. 

Accuracy, Necessity of, 180. 

Accuracy, Things Which Hinder, 181. 

Accuracy, Training Scholar to, 183. 

Action, Knowledge Transferred to, 102. 

Activity of Scholar, Independent, 56. 

Actor, Story Teller, An, 71. 

Advance, Think Out Subject in, 100. 

Advice to a Teacher, 281. 

Aim of Next Lesson, Finding, 268. 

Aims, the Teachers', Summarized, 223. 

American Civic Association on Co-operation, 210. 

Answer, No Stereotyped, 175. 

Apostles, Teachers, 37. 

Application of Lesson, 122. 

Natural, 122. 

Point, Sharp and Clear, 123. 

Not Commonplace, 123. 

Individual, 123. 

Not Too Numerous, 124. 

The Exclamatory, 124. 

Emotional, 125. 
Applications, Selecting, 273. 
Attention, Catch Your Scholar's, 55. 
Attention, Defined, 189. 
Attention, How to Regain, 189. 

Beginning, Selecting a, 50. 
Bible as a Text-Book, 227. 
Bible Class, Questioning a, 153. 
Bible Material, Classification and Division, 235. 
Bible, Something for Every Age and Stage, 236. 
Bible Study, Our Object in, 230. 
Bible Study, Way to, 231. 
Bible, Twin Books of, 230. 
Bible, Various Books and Parts, 228. 
Bible, Volume of Material in, 236. 
Boys, Advice of Old Teacher of, 220. 
Boys, Ideal of Inner Strength, 222. 
290 



TOPICAL INDEX 291 

Boy, The Self-Assertive, 204. 

Catechism, Order of, 245. 

Christ, Life of, Fits into Church Year, 246. 

Christ, Living in the Life of, 251. 

Church Year and Instruction, 245. 

Church Year, Evangelical and Roman, 249. 

Church Year, No Human Device, 248. 

Church Year, Use of Material in Connection With, 242. 

Closing Lesson Period, 280. 

Collateral Reading, 266. 

Commentaries, Selection and Use, 234. 

Common Knowledge, Using, 93. 

Confidence, Consequences of Absolute, 89. 

Effect on Teacher, 89. 

Effect on Scholars, 90. 
Confidence While Teaching, 53. 
Connection, Getting Historical, 265. 
Connection in Present Series of Lessons, 265. 
Contact, Point of, 140. 
Co-operation, Child's, 210. 
Co-operation in Education, 32. 
Co-operation in Work, Scholar's, 207. 
Co-operative Method, 87. 
Co-operative Work, Planning Pupil's, 274. 

Descriptive Portrayal, 69. 

Desire, Kindle, in Your Own Soul, 99. 

Desire to Know, Create a, 98. 

Infectious, 100. 
Difficulties, Preliminary Clearance of, 58. 
Discipleship, Training Into, 214. 
Discussion, Teaching by, 79. 
Do, Create a Desire to, 101. 

Effectiveness in Teaching, Training An Aid to, 200. 
Example, Saviour Teaching by, 82. 
Expository Method, 84. 
External Bearing, Teacher's, 217. 

Fact Questions, 170. 

Faith in Yourself, 57. 

Feelings Which Respond to Questions, 191. 

Fellowship, Center of Teacher's Influence, 216. 



292 TOPICAL INDEX 

Gospels and Epistles, Place of, 247. 
Grade Lessons, Limit Topics, 185. 
Growth, To Teach is to Help, 11. 

Habit, Counts in Class, 210. 
Habits, Influencing the Scholar's, 211. 
History and Doctrine, 237. 
Honor in Pupil's Minds, 221. 

Illumination, The Law of, 163. 
Illustrating the Lesson, 114. 

Incongruous, 115. 

Not to the Point, 116. 

Obscure, 117. 

Neutralizing, 117. 

Not Elevating, 118. 

Too Much, 119. 

Too Much Repetition, 119. 
Illustration, Analysis of Points in, 149. 
Illustrations, 271. 

Individual, Connecting, With the Group, 252. 
Influence, Cultivate, 205. 
Instruction and Church Year, 245. 
Instruction and Training, 31. 
Intention, A Bad, 204. 
Intention, Make Clear to Scholar, 56. 
Interest, Degrees and Limits of, 190. 
Interest, Four Causes of, 190. 
Interest, How to Maintain the Scholar's, 187. 
Interesting Pupil, Art of, 97. 
Interest, Sustaining, 186. 
Interrogatory Method, 67. 

Our Saviour's Use of, 68. 
Introducing Lesson, 279. 

Jesus, a Teacher, 35. 

Joy, Put, Into Teacher's Work, 225. 

Kingdom, Bible Treats of, 231. 

Lawyer, Jesus' Lesson to, 193. 
Leaders of the Class, 222. 
Lecture Method of Teaching, 80. 
Lesson as Inspired, 264. 
Lesson as Literature, 264. 
Lesson Leaves, 238. 



TOPICAL INDEX 293 

Lesson, Main Current of, 58. 

Tributaries, 59. 

Stepping on Shore, 60. 
Lesson Plan, General Outline of, 255. 
Lesson, Right Light On, 264. 
Lesson, To Begin, Not a Formidable Thing, 57. 
Library, A Teacher's, 268. 
Luke's Instances of a Good Story, 70. 

Manhood, To Teach Is to Develop, 14. 

Material, Getting, Ready, 263. 

Material, Limits of Use in Time Allowed, 239. 

Material, Order in Use of, 240. 

Material, Use of, in Church Year, 242. 

Memory Tonic, 180. 

Memory, Types of Formal, 179. 

Memory Weaknesses, 180. 

Memory Work, Is it Essential? 74. 

Method of Teaching, What? 107. 

Exegetico-Expository, 107. 

Exegetical-Logical, 110. 
Method to be Employed in Teaching, 270. 
Mind, Knowing Scholar's, 188. 
Momentum, The Law of, 152, 162. 
Mystery Presented in Simplicity, 92. 

New Education, Extreme of the, 28. 
New Testament, Relation to Old, 230. 
New Testament, What Was Teaching in, 35. 
Note-Book, The Teacher's, 260. 
Nutriment, To Teach Is to Furnish, 13. 

Object of Jesus' Teaching, 95. 
Old Education, Extreme of the, 29. 
Old Testament, Place for, 247. 
Old Testament, Value of, 230. 
Opening Lesson Period, 279. 

Parallels, Use of Illustrative, 103. 
Parents, Co-operation of, 220. 
Parent-Teacher Associations, 33. 
Participation With the Teacher, 56. 
Passage, General Bearings of, 44. 

Particular Truth, 44. 

Presentation, 46. 

Underlying Principles, 47. 



294 TOPICAL INDEX 

Pastor and Teachers, Relation Between, 40. 

Pastor, Head Teacher, 42. 

Pastor's Helpers, 43. 

Pastor, Not Primarily Teacher of Children, 41. 

Paul, a Teacher, 37. 

Paul, Illustration of Teacher of Mature Minds, 83. 

Peculiarities, Allow for, 203. 

Personal Act, Teach Is a, 118. 

Personal Attachment, 221. 

Personality, Teacher's and Scholar's, 213. 

Personal Touch, Direct, 92. 

Pivotal Points of Story, Fixing, 270. 

Plan, Clearness of, 52. 

Preach, Teach Is Not to, 24. 

Preparation Cut to Lesson-Period Size, 272. 

Preparing the Lesson, Things to Do In, 259. 

Preparation, 

General, 260. 

Special, 263. 
Principles, Emphasizing General, 83. 
Process of Teaching, 54. 
Protestant. Reformer's Division, 237. 
Psalm 51, as Illustration, 141. 
Psychological Process, To Teach a, 14. 
Publications, Multitude of, 239. 
Pupil, How Interest, 97. 
Pupil, The New, 200. 
Pupil's Thought, Make It Active, 94. 
Pupil, Training the New, 201. 
Purpose, Cultivate an Inspiring, 212. 
Purpose in Questions, 170. 
Purpose, Remembering While Teaching, 50. 

Question Books in Nineteenth Century, 238. 
Question, Dangers in Asking a, 150. 
Question, Effect of a, 136. 

Questioning, Masterly Method of Our Lord, 196. 
Question Method, Value of, 129. 

Aversion to, 129. 
Questions, How Shall I Use? 139. 
Questioning, Qualities of, 167. 
Questions, Printed, 172. 
Questions, Seven Laws of, 139. 

1. Awaken Thought, 140. 

2. Speed and Momentum, 151. 



TOPICAL INDEX 295 

3. Luminousness, 161. 

4. Vitality, 169. 

5. Accuracy, 179. 

6. Sustain Interest, 186. 

7. Personal Application, 193. 
Question, Value of, 132. 

Recitation Method, 71. 

Recitation Method Advantages, 72. 

Religious Excitement, Not Encourage, 126. 

Research Method, 87. 

Respond, Scholar That Will Not, 201. 

Response, Necessary, 30. 

Saviour, Presence of in Class, 222. 

Saviour's Teaching, 89. 

Scripture, How Did Church Divide for Teaching? 237. 

Scripture, Must Make Scripture Interpret, 235. 

Scripture, Use of Pithy Passages, 126. 

Seasons, Sacredness of Life's, 250. 

Seed, Teach Is to Plant a, 22. 

Self-Control, 206. 

Self-Expression, New, Emphasizes the Joy, 27. 

Self-indulgence, 222. 

Simple Act, Teach Is a, 19. 

Slang, Use of, 123. 

Sociological, Bible Teaching, 231. 

Sound Doctrine, Pastor Responsible for, 40. 

Spiritual Life of Pupil, 216. 

Spiritual Process, Teach Is a, 17. 

St. Peter Did Not Understand Everything in St. Paul, 

234. 
Starting to Teach, 54. 
Stories, Jesus' Teaching Full of, 65. 
Story, Must Have Central Point, 126. 
Story-Telling, Method of, 64. 
Subject, Timeliness of, 265. 
Suggestions for Teaching Through Collateral Reading, 

266. 
Summing Up Lesson, 273, 280. 
Sunday-School Teaching, Purpose of, 45. 

Teacher, Overscrupulous, 182. 
Teaching, a Definition, 25. 



296 TOPICAL INDEX 

Teaching, Five Parts of, 255. 

1. Preparing, 256. 

2. Opening Lesson Period, 257. 

3. Introducing Lesson, 257. 

4. Teaching Lesson, 258. 

5. Closing Lesson, 258. 
Teaching, Four Sides of, 12. 

Teaching in Sunday-School, Final Definition, 284. 

Teaching Lesson, 279. 

Teaching, Old and New Idea in, 27. 

Teaching, Origin and Definition, 25. 

Teaching, Purpose of, 91. 

Teaching, Things to Do in Act of, 279. 

Teaching, Types of, 63. 

Teaching, What Is S. S., 11. 

Texts, Collection of Important, 237. 

Thanksgiving Day, 251. 

Thematic Method, 85. 

Thought, Fixing Outline of, 270. 

Thought, To Teach Is to Direct, 15. 

Topical Method, 85. 

Topics, Limited in Graded Lessons, 185. 

Training and Influence, Teacher's, 200. 

Treachery, Disobedience or Trickery Is, 221. 

Trifling, 222. 

Truths and History, 237. 

Truths, Selecting the, 51. 

Types of Teachers, 64. 

Vital Act, Teach Is a, 20. 
Vitality, Law of, 173. 

Washington's Birthday, 251. 
Word of God, For Study of Teacher, 227. 
Work, Set Up Regular Standard, 220. 
Worship Is Not Individual, 252. 

Year, Church, Order of Is Order of Christian Life, 244. 
Year, God's Framework of, 253. 
Year, The Christian Year, 243. 



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